A Warming Fireby Randmizr-77ChaptersDiscoveryIntroductionsShadowPreview!DiscoverySnow, streetlights, and lit signs prominently stood out against the black, clouded night sky. The crunch crunch crunch of snow under my boots partially blocked out the semi-common sound of a motor that indicated a passing vehicle. Hanging from my right arm was the reassuring weight of my few groceries. A small white cloud appeared in front of my face everytime I exhaled. And I felt happy. It was a chilly winter here in Washington state, cold enough for it to be snowing as much as it was. It wasn't snowing nearly as heavily as it would be in, say, Alaska, but it was enough for the local news stations to advise motorists to equip snow tires, as well as tire chains if you lived in an area that generally received more snow than average. I didn't live in a particularly snowy area, so I didn't need tire chains unless I was going up to the mountains to have some fun in the snow. And down here, my little hatchback did perfect with its winter tires. But the grocery store I went to, which was also the closest to my house, took less than five minutes if the crosswalks were timed well with the traffic, and I was only buying a few things, small enough for me to carry. And I felt like going for a walk. As I waited to cross the street, I went over my plans for tonight: cook what I just bought a few minutes ago, watch my DVD set of all nine seasons of The King Of Queens, and inevitably fall asleep before watching all nine seasons. Not the most exciting way to spend an evening, but that didn't mean I wouldn't enjoy it. I lived alone, and didn't have any pets; a gopher snake that I owned since I was in pre-school (about four years old, during which the snake itself was also very young) passed away when I was seventeen, and a cat that my family and I owned before I moved out stayed with them, half because he often didn't like it when somebody he knew well left the house, and half because with my job, I wouldn't be able to spend much time with him. Yet I wasn't bothered by any of this. I got to work with cars (as well as trucks, SUVs, and an occasional van), which was the type of job I wanted, and it had a good pay, not to mention it introduced me to some great people and fellow auto enthusiasts. And I had the internet to help keep me entertained. If I hadn't been frequently checking out the channel of a YouTuber I liked, I never would've done some research and discovered (and later joined) the Friendship is Magic fanbase (or possibly even known about the show). I had even written some FiM fanfics. I was approaching the short uphill path that ended at the cul-de-sac where I lived when I was brought back to full awareness of the world around me by... I looked down at my left foot. ... A pebble? The way it bopped into my leg, as well as the lack of places where it could've fallen from told me that it didn't happen naturally; somebody had tossed it. "... Anybody there?" I asked the cold air. Silence responded. I was about to keep walking when another pebble bounced off of me. I turned in the direction I assumed it had come from. And, in some bushes, effortlessly spotted three pairs of eyes. Big eyes. Cartoonish big eyes. They all had yellow irises, but were unique in that they all had vertical slit pupils, like a cat's, or a typical dragon's. Two of the pairs were the same size, but the third pair was smaller, appearing to be, at most, 60-percent the size of the other two pairs. "What in the... ?" I was struck speechless by the trio that emerged from the bushes. They were ponies; Friendship is Magic bat ponies. I blinked a few times, rubbed my eyes, and stared, wondering if for some reason I had begun hallucinating. They didn't disappear; they just stared back. "..." "..." What heck was going on here? I was just planning to relax at home and watch a sitcom so popular that reruns were still being aired even though the show's final episode aired several years ago, back in 2008. Now, three characters from a crazy popular cartoon were suddenly real? Was this going to be like the heart-wrenching fanfic My Little Dashie? Were they going to try to convince me to go back to Equestria with them? Was the multiverse theory actually true, or was this just a very vivid dream or even a very vivid hallucination? What in the world was going on?! Yet another pebble bouncing off of my boots brought me out of my mental ramble, and I noticed something had been written in the snow. help I looked back at the ponies. "..." They blankly stared back. "..." I looked around, seeing nobody. "... Follow me." I said, breaking the awkward and tense silence that hung in the air, before resuming my walk home. The softer sound of crunching snow confirmed that they were doing so, or at least understood English. The latter case was especially good, because I'm only fluent in English. I know a few words and sentences in a handful of other languages, but that's it. I didn't see anybody else as we walked up to my house, alleviating my concern that this could really go south. I was also glad that all of my home's blinds and curtains were closed, in case anybody happened to cast a passing glance at one of the windows. They were understandably hesitant to enter at first, but once they saw the inside after I switched on the lights, they entered without hesitation. After directing them to the couch, I went into the kitchen and started cooking my dinner. Once that was in progress, I sat on the other end of the couch. "Okay..." I said, breaking the dead air. "First thing's first: how did you end up here in the first place?" Now in full light, I could see their specific appearences. The one I assumed was the leader was a male, with a pitch black mane, tail, and coat, broken only by his yellow irises. Aside from the last detail and the whites of his eyes, he looked like Mad Max's Interceptor in pony form. Second, and by far the most eye-catching of the three, was a female who appeared to be about the same age as the black-on-black one; eye-catching due to her bright red fur, yellow mane tied back in a single braid (finished with a turquoise bead just before the end) that hung in front of her chest and I assumed extended halfway down her forelegs, also-braided yellow tail, and, quite surprisingly, a horn portruding from her forehead. I decided to put that on my mental "ask about later" shelf. Finally was a male colt that I guessed was 10 or 11 years old. Like Black-on-black, he had a pitch black mane and tail, but was distinguished by a dark blue coat. Black-on-black spoke, his voice confirming my guess that he was in his late teens to early twenties. "We were escaping." He said. "This was the only place we could get to, and we'd been hiding in that bush for just ten minutes when you came by." "Well, either this is the most vivid dream I've ever had, the first time I've had a hallucination, or there's much more to the universe than the whole world knows about, because logically, you shouldn't be real here." I replied, making Black-on-black lower one of his ears in confusion. "What do you mean?" "Have you ever heard of the multiverse theory?" I asked, making all three of them pause. "... It says that there are an infinite number of universes, all with different realities, some only differed by one event, right?" Said the lone female of the group, who for now I decided to refer to as "Fire". "Precisely. Only here, we've never actually ever traveled between universes." "Don't you have magic?" Asked the youngest, who I for now named "Colt". "Actually, magic is merely fictional in this 'verse." I explained. "We instead use advanced technology for many things, and while we've created some extremely rare elements that only exist for a fraction of a second, we've never managed to travel between universes." Black-on-black was about to speak, but was cut off by the microwave's alarm. "This'll only take, at most, fifteen seconds." I said while getting up and going to the kitchen. After I followed the instructions and set the microwave again, I returned to the couch to resume our conversation. But I glanced at the clock, and saw that it was almost 10 p.m. "Listen, it's getting late, I've gotta get into bed in about an hour, I've still gotta eat, and the three of you no doubt have many questions. How about I put on some entertainment for us to watch, and we pick this up tomorrow morning?" I said. "Fine by me." Replied Fire. "Good." I paused. "What are you're names, anyway?" I asked. "I'm Raven." Black-on-black said. I decided not to tell him that his name was generally considered to be a girl's name. "This is my sister Pyra." He motioned to Fire with one wing. "And my younger brother Sil." He motioned to Colt with his other wing. "Well, I hope the three of you can make yourselves comfortable, because I don't know how long you'll be here. And, because this is a place you've never seen before." I said. "I think we'll manage." Raven replied. "We're used to it by now." I wondered what he meant as I turned on the TV and DVD player. Author's Note There it is; the first chapter of my Life With A Wonderbolt spin-off, featuring three new characters. Fun fact: the state and area the narrator lives in, as well as the snake he mentioned, are the same as my real life (I live in Washington state, and a gopher snake I had since I was in pre-school passed away when I was 17... which was earlier this year. In early October (Oct. 3rd), I turned 18). I'm still working on the details of what's going to happen in the next chapter, so don't expect it to be finished quickly. IntroductionsThe next morning, I woke up to find all three of my new guests huddled together on the other end of the couch, fast asleep. I had finished breakfast when they woke, standing, stretching their legs and wings, and then lying back down. As cute as that was, I had questions to answer. "So..." I said while sitting back down. "What'd you like to know first?" Raven was the first to speak. "Where are we? And who are you?" "I'm Zach, and you're on a planet called Earth, where things I'm guessing are far different from what you've seen." I responded. "What's next?" "Yesterday, you said that we logically shouldn't exist here." The black bat pony continued. "What did you mean?" "I mean you're not real life real here. Fact is, here, Equestria, as well as your entire world, is a fictional cartoon." "... How much of it?" Raven continued. "Mainly The Elements of Harmony being rediscovered and used to stop Nightmare Moon's second takeover attempt, then later the events of Discord's escape, King Sombra's defeat, Twilight Sparkle becoming a princess, and Tirek's attempted takeover, to name name a few." I named most of the big events covered in the show. "Of course we've got fictional stories written by fans that either cover past events that are only mentioned but never actually shown because the show's supposed to be appropriate for little kids, are darker takes on events that are covered, are set in a future Equestria, or just tell their own story with characters from the show, or their own characters that would be from the show." "..." "..." "..." All three of them were silent. "There's more to it, but I'm not sure I'd be able to explain all of it." I continued. "So what's you're next question?" "... What's the magic here like?" Pyra asked. "Magic doesn't exist in this universe; we instead use technology to achieve things that otherwise would be impossible." I explained. "Like?" She continued. "Like the ability to travel 759 miles in about 16 hours, and that's by car. By airplane, that drops to about 2 hours." I responded. The alicorn blinked a few times, clearly trying to process what I had just said. "Technology can do some amazing things." I said with a smile. "What exactly is a 'car', or an 'airplane'?" Sil asked curiously. I Googled "airplane" on my iPhone and enlarged an image before showing it to them. "This is an airplane." I said. "The first one that actually flew did so a little over 100 years ago. Today's planes are leaps and bounds ahead of that. They use specially-built engines that run on special combustible fuel to provide enough thrust to push their massive bulk to speeds in excess of 350 miles per hour, and clever aerodynamics to acheive flight and stay in the air. Most commonly, they provide a driving alternative that's much faster, albeit more expensive, because they can carry dozens of people at once." "..." "..." "..." Again, all three of them were struck silent. "And cars?" Sil continued. "They're even older, first appearing nearly 140 years ago as an alternative to horse-drawn carriages." I was greeted with three blank stares. "Here, humans are the only known species in existence with this level of cognitive ability. Before automobiles came around, people traveled either on foot, on boat, on horseback, or on horse-drawn carriages." I elaborated. That appeared to answer that unasked question. "Anyway, over the years they've become safer, quieter, more efficient, more comfortable, and much faster. The one that I own is actually still pretty new, but that hasn't stopped me from doing things with it that no ordinary car could." "How do these cars work?" Raven asked. "I can give you either the simple, complex, or semi-complex explanation. Which would you prefer?" I replied. They briefly huddled and whispered before turning back to me. "Semi-complex." Raven spoke for all three of them. I pulled out a pencil and a sheet of blank paper. "First, air is drawn through a tube here, which has a filter to prevent contaminants from getting into and potentially damaging the engine..." [/hr] "And finally the braking force is transferred through the tires to the ground, slowing the vehicle." I finished my semi-complex explanation of how a car goes and stops, once again being answered with silence. "... Why doesn't our world have that?" Sil questioned. "Because it would be pretty much pointless." I pointed out. "You can fly on your own, you can teleport, and enough strong earth ponies can do things that we use technology to do. And these things rely on combustion to generate power, so they pollute the air as a consequence, though there are a few vehicles that run either on hydrogen or far more commonly, pure electricity. Those vehicles have their compromises and they're rather pricey, but the electric ones demonstrate an effective alternative fuel." "But then why are there so few of them compared to regular-fuel vehicles?" Pyra asked with genuine curiosity obvious in her voice. "Because electric vehicles can't recharge as fast as a regular vehicle can be refueled, not to mention they typically have a much shorter range than traditional gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles. The latter is why they largely fell out of use between 90 and 100 years ago, not to mention you can't thrash 'em on a racetrack as long as you can a regular car." "Racetrack?" Raven spoke up. "It's like tracks pegasi use, only on entirely on the ground and used by motor vehicles, and without any crazy things like loop-de-loops." "Because cars can't fly, right?" Sil asked. "Exactly. There have been a few attempts at making a flying car in the past, but they all either didn't fly at all, or flew briefly before crashing, so I highly doubt they'll exist in my lifetime." "Do you race?" Raven asked me. "I do, but not professionally, like The Wonderbolts." I responded. "I instead go to autocross races, which are tight courses marked by cones set up in an open space that emphasize agility and traction over brute power, and track days, where a racetrack is open to the general public and you can run as many hot laps as you like, or as much as your ride can handle before it starts to experience some serious wear-related issues. You can drive whatever you want, and it's common for people there to race with their daily driver, the same ride they use to get to and from work, run errands in, take other people in, all of that stuff." "Is your car fast?" Pyra asked. "It's fast for what's basically a jumped-up econobox with dull performance in lower specs." I got up. "I can show it to you, if you'd like." That really got them interested. I put on my jacket and boots, and lead them outside to my little green hatchback. "This is my car," I announced, "a 2015 Ford Fiesta ST. Far from being the fastest of its kind, but you'd be hard pressed to find another front-wheel-drive car that can make you smile so much." "What kind of engine does it have?" Pyra asked me while her brothers began to walk around the machine to get a closer look. "A turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four making 197 horsepower. Not really going to be winning many drag races with that kind of power, but it's a blast to drive, and still performs terrifically in the snow." I checked my watch. 9:00 am "Well, we've got about twelve-and-a-half hours to kill before I settle down for sleep, so what do wanna do next?" I spoke. "Just know that because you're logically not real, you can't let anyone else see you." "Why not?" Pyra asked. "I'd rather not find out the hard way, people tend to react badly to crazy things like this." I clarified. "However, I've got a lot of home entertainment options, so if you still wanna get settled in what I'm assuming is your long-term residence." "... Ah the hay with it. I'm not in the mood to play in the snow anyway. And I generally don't like being outside when it's this cold." Raven said after pause. "Well if you want to watch something, I've got what I consider to be a prime selection of options. Movies here have come a long way." I announced while walking back to my house. "What've you got?" Sil asked as he and his two siblings followed. "I've got multiple installments of a seven-installment movie series that has cars as a centerpoint. The first three are really about street racing with some action movie elements, and then 4 through 7 are more action movie with cars as the main weapons; basically vehicular warfare. I've also got one of the greatest action movies ever made, which is set in a post-apocalyptic version of another country. Or if you wanna watch something humorous, I've got a couple of comedies." "... How about that street racing one?" Pyra requested. "Comin' right up." I popped in my Blu-Ray copy of The Fast and The Furious, turned on my television, and sat down on the couch next to my new guests (or possibly housemates), who were almost in trance, watching the Blu-Ray screen before I started the actual movie. [/hr] "Dominic Toretto... You don't know me." Behind him, the orange and black Mazda was engulfed in a ball of fire. "... You're about to." "And that leads into the seventh and final film in the series." I explained. "So who we just saw is the main bad guy in the seventh one?" Raven asked. "Bull's eye." "That's quite an introduction." Pyra commented. "It really makes me want to see Furious 7." "I've actually got that one too." I said. "I'll pop it in right now, unless you want to take the time to get better acquainted with your new home." Again, they huddled. "I guess we'd rather get to know our new home..." Raven finally said with surprising shyness. Why he was suddenly so shy was beyond me, but I had no idea how long they would be here, and if they left at some point, I wanted to help them get as comfortable as possible. [/hr] Author's Notes: Finally got this finished; writer's block and lack of interest dragged this out much longer than I would've liked. I know the ending seems rather abrupt, but I wanted to save the cuteness and feels for the next chapter... whose title will relate to the member of the trio it focuses on. I'm going to be doing this for each character, but the last one might be multiple chapters... I'll figure that one out when I reach it. I'm putting all of this right here because when I put it in the Author's Notes box, it refused to show up for some reason. ShadowNote: this chapter does get a bit emotionally heavy near the end. Like "My Filly, Nightshine" by The Abyss, this story does have a lot of cute moments (albeit not as well-written), but just like that story, it does have some sad moments too, though in this case, said sad moments are much less frequent (I plan for it to happen, at most, two more times), and much less detailed than what happens in that story; this is probably the darkest it's ever gonna get in this one. If it's enough to at least warrant a "T" rating, I'll make the change... but enough of my rambling; onto the short-but-sweet fluff! [/hr] The next couple of hours were spent introducing and explaining my world to my guests; technology, history, the current state of things, all of that. They naturally had many questions, and though I couldn't answer all of them, I at least answered what I could. I familiarized them with the guest room where they would be staying in for who knew how long. I showed them my assortment of games and retold some of my favorite, scariest, or frustrating moments, which all of them listened to with intense interest, Sil in particular. The normally quieter colt asked the most questions when it came to the games, taking a particular interest in Mad Max. He was a little bummed when I explained its lukewarm reception, and he was well aware that he couldn't play it, but that didn't stop him from using the puppy eyes on his brother, sister, and to an extent, me, to convince us to let him watch me play. I only played to the point after I retrieved a body for the Magnum Opus, but all three of them were practically hypnotized the entire time. It was after they had wound down that Sil asked a surprising question seemingly out of nowhere. "Can you take me for a ride in your car?" "... Come again?" I asked back. "Can you take me for a ride in your car?" He repeated. "Uh..." I turned towards his siblings for the answer. "We've got some unpacking to do, so I don't have a problem with that." Pyra said. "If you really want to bro, and it's okay with Zach, then you can go." Raven added. "Pleeeeeeeeeease?" Sil almost begged me while giving me his best puppy eyes. Ugh, foul play... "... If you really want to that badly, then let's go." I said finally, half-expecting to receive a hug that effectively doubled as a tackle. I instead received a very excited squee and almost received a dent in the living room's ceiling when the colt jumped into the air. "It's still snowing, so I suggest you bundle up." I said while slipping my jacket and boots back on and grabbing my keys. It was when I opened the front door that I realized something, only for Sil to almost bolt outside and stop by my little hatchback. "Calm down Sil, I need to grab a few things before we can go." I said while heading back to my room. I noticed the confused looks I received from Raven and Pyra when I came back with a few pillows. "If he's gonna ride with me, he's gonna need these to be able to see out the window." I explained before exiting. Sil remained still by the passenger's side door as I unlocked the doors and arranged the pillows on the seat, before motioning for him to get in. After showing him how to put on the seatbelt, I closed his door, opened the driver's side, got in, buckled up, and fired up the motor, the little four breaking the silence with its now very familiar tone, amplified by the sound system that seemed to be common on so many performance-oriented cars nowadays. I moved the shifter into reverse, a stick shift, naturally, though that was the Fiesta ST's only tranny, backed out of the driveway, and started off. Sil was borderline hypnotized as we trundled along the side streets that had no traffic. We continued like this for about five minutes before the colt spoke up. "Can we go someplace fast?" He asked me. "That depends on what you mean." I responded while turning around in a cul-de-sac. "I mean can you go someplace where you can drive fast?" Sil clarified. "I know of one place that my friends and I go to during this time of the year, but in weather like this it's probably going to take about thirty minutes to get there." "Can we go there?" My passenger asked eagerly. I steered onto the street that ran by the cul-de-sac where my house was. "... I'll have to run it by your brother and sister first, and if they're okay with it, then yes we can." [/hr] Raven and Pyra were still unpacking when Sil and I came back, and though they were understandably hesitant at first, the excitement in their little brother's eyes won them over. The colt's excitement didn't wane the slightest when we drove along the highway; if anything, it actually grew. It still didn't waver even when I steered off the actual road. I guided my car through the snow to a clearing, and stopped before putting the shifter in neutral. "Just so you know Sil, you can always tell me if things start getting too fast for you." I said while the still very excited colt turned his gaze to the invisible path ahead of us. I started one particular song on my phone. "..." Through the speakers, a soft rhythm started. I revved the motor a few times, listening to the turbo's whistle. I depressed the clutch and shifted into first. The background rhythm was joined by a second rhythm that started soft but gradually increased in volume. "..." I gave the motor another rev, and just as the music really started, dumped the clutch and nearly floored the throttle, unleashing the turbocharged torque and letting the real limited-slip diff I had installed sort it out. Countless hours of practicing driving hard in poor weather had taught me well, and I delicately modulated the gas pedal to keep traction at maximum as we charged forwards. It was only after we were well underway that I went full tilt. I unwound the turbo four to its perfect shift point then entered second gear. Ahead, a right turn loomed. I braked hard, shifted down, and turned in fluidly, getting the front tires to bite and change the car's direction, feathering the right pedal to get us into a smooth, high-speed slide. About two-thirds of me were expecting Sil to want me to pull in the reins, but I was still more surprised than I probably should've been when he spoke over the motor: "Faster!" I didn't waste a moment and pinned the throttle back to the floorboard, getting the car to straighten out. Rapidly approaching the treeline, I slowed again and veered left, the little green Ford turning with an eagerness that many probably wouldn't expect of a car that was still partially in the vehicle category of personal transportation on a budget. Studless tires scrambling in the snow, I went nearly full throttle on the corner's exit, performing a Scandinavian flick to get the little hatchback to swap direction for the right that followed seconds later. Surprisingly responsive in the snow for a front-wheel-drive subcompact car? Possibly. Regardless, I was unable to stop a grin of my own from forming as I crested a slight jump, braking hard and steering hard for the left hairpin turn that shortly followed. Yeah, a Mazda MX-5 would be able to do the same thing to me, but it couldn't carry four people. Sil's cheering mixed with the engine's sound as I straightened out and gradually pushed down on the accelerator, sending us hurtling down the road... [/hr] 1 week later... Sil had really enjoyed the ride I had taken him on; we ended up going for only about ten minutes before I drove back in the interest of not worrying his brother and sister, but when we got back, he seemed like a soft ball of energy. His upbeat attitude seemed to lift their moods a bit, too. As the three of them settled in, each took a different interest in the various things (for lack of a better term) either in my home or in the world. Sil, curious as he always seemed to have been when he arrived, became enamored with the ins and outs of how autos and motorcycles worked, which also made me happy knowing that I could also chat with somebody about my favorite subject. Raven took an interest in computer programming and design, admitting that it only came along after watching me play Mad Max. Even though I was no expert on the subject, I still explained what I could and showed him a couple games my friends and I were working on in our spare time. Pyra quickly became attatched to literature; be it Stephen King's horror stories or sometimes outright ridiculous fan-made stories, it didn't matter to her as long as it was of good quality. But there was more to them than appeared, as I found out one night after falling asleep on the living room couch after staying up late to finish some work. [/hr] I drifted back into the waking world when I felt something poke one of my arms. Gradually regaining awareness of everything around me, I could here shaky breathing. ... And... sniffling? I glanced at the clock, seeing that it was 1 am. Turning towards the sound, I quickly spotted a quivering figure partially illuminated by the hallway light sitting on the floor next to me. "... Sil?" I spoke softly. "What're you doing up at this time?" "... I... I had a scary dream..." He shakily responded between sniffles. I vaguely remembered his older brother mentioning that they were escaping when I found them; I wondered if that had something to do with it. "Come on up." I continued to speak softly while patting the space next to me, feeling him quickly climb onto the couch and lay down. "Do you remember what happened?" "I... I don't... want to..." Sil continued to speak in a shaky voice. I paused, remembering something my parents told me when I was young. "Listen, buddy." I spoke gently. "No matter how scary it was, in the end, it was still a dream, and dreams can't hurt you. Even though it may not feel like it at first, telling someone about it will help you feel better." I rested a hand on his back. "Now try to remember what happened." He sniffed, hesitated, then started. "It was a bad memory... of what happened just before we came here... *sniff*... years ago, us and our parents left the place we had been living near for so long, so we could go someplace where we'd be able to live among others that didn't care about our appearance... *sniff*... But shortly after we left... we were ambushed..." He paused. "Take your time, there's no need to rush it." I said. After a short silence, he continued. "We managed to get away from them for a little bit, but they eventually caught up... then my parents guided my brother and sister and I... *sniff*... to some ponies they knew that would be able to get us out of there..." Another pause; despite the not-very-bright light coming from the hallway providing subpar vision in the area we were in, I could see tears start welling up in the colt's eyes. "... My mom and dad died buying all of us enough time to flee... *sniff*... and we ended up here when the ponies that did it found us again..." I could see he was struggling to hold back more tears. "Come on now, let it out." I encouraged softly. "... I dreamed that we died too..." The dam that he had been trying to hold together finally burst. Without thinking, I scooped the little colt up in my arms and held him close as he wept. At this point, I tuned out any other thoughts that were drifting around inside my mind; all that mattered right now was that I gave the poor kid some level of comfort as thought back to things that he'd rather keep in the past. After about five minutes of weeping, Sil had calmed down to the point where he could speak with relative coherence, and another minute afterwards, he had gone quiet, save the occasional sniff, though I could feel him still trembling. "Hey now..." I continued to speak softly. "What will it take to make you feel better?" I noticed his ears suddenly laid sideways. "*sniff*... Well..." I remained silent, letting the suddenly shy colt work up the courage to speak. "... Usually, when this happens... if my brother is awake, he gives me back rubs... and if my sister's awake, she sings to me..." He said in a volume noticeably quieter than before. Hmmm... "... I think I have an idea that will give you both at once." I said. Reaching over, I picked up my phone and opened the music app. Plugging my earbuds in, I started a random song and turned the volume down to the minimum, before putting one of the buds in one of Sil's ears and putting the other in mine. Shifting slightly to make myself more comfortable, I rested a hand on the colt's back. "Just let me know if you want the volume turned up or want me to play a different song." I said before starting one particular song; as the music started, I began gently scratching. It didn't take long before he began to relax. As he did, his eyelids began to droop. I always enjoyed this song; it was a favorite of mine growing up, and Sil seemed to like it, too. Of course, it was playing in only one ear; the other was hearing the sound of my fingers going back and forth across his back. scritch scritch scritch scritch [/hr] By the end of the song about three minutes and forty-five seconds later, his eyes had drifted entirely closed, and he had a very sleepy smile on his muzzle. It was just then that a question arrived in my head. "Hey Sil." I softly spoke while pausing the song after it ended, hearing him semi-coherently mumble in response. "What does your name mean?" The now sleepy colt opened his mouth to speak, only to yawn instead, before he finally spoke. "It's short for Silhouette..." He mumbled tiredly before yawning again. "... Could you please play that song again... ?" Smiling, I tapped the song again, causing it to restart. scritch scritch scritch scritch After the song ended a second time, I made the cutest discovery. Sil snored when he slept. It wasn't loud, but it was still audible. "Sweet dreams, Silhouette." I whispered before letting myself drift off. [/hr] The next morning... I awoke to a bundle of warmth in my lap. Opening my eyes to the sunlight partially blocked by the curtains, I looked towards the source of the warmth to find a certain little blue colt curled up in my lap, sound asleep and snoring softly. I couldn't help but smile at the adorable sight as I began gingerly stroking his mane, watching him shift slightly and curl up a bit tighter. I decided to let him sleep; after the rude awakening he'd had in the very early morning, the little guy undoubtedly needed to catch up some. Eventually, Sil yawned sleepily before getting up and arching his back and spreading his wings, then stretching his legs, making a quick circle... and finally lying back down. Awwww... "Good morning." I said, receiving another tired yawn in response. "One day you'll give someone a heart attack with that adorableness." The colt's cheeks flushed slightly as he curled up a bit tighter before he opened his eyes. "... Do I have to get up?" He mumbled. "Eventually, yes, but not right now." I replied. "It's only 7, so I say you've got a good half-hour before you have to get up." That seemed to be an answer Sil was hoping for, as he closed his eyes and fell back into a light doze. Smiling, I resumed scratching his back. scritch scritch scritch scritch Author's Notes: Block finally cleared up enough for me to get back to working on this story; in a way, I'm glad that the block lasted as long as it did, because it meant I could think about and refine this chapter. Writing the heavy part took a bit more effort, not because I have difficulty writing it in general, but rather because it's in an otherwise generally lighthearted and fluffy story. Unfortunately, this chapter drained me of any inspiration that would help me come up with the events that will connect this chapter with the next... but just for the heck of it, can you guess which sibling is going to be the main focus of the next part of the story? Preview!Fully finishing this chapter I suspect will take awhile (don't ask how long, because I can never guess), so in the meantime, here's what I got down so far. Enjoy! (I'm not using the Author's Notes box for this because anything I type in there doesn't show up; I don't know if anyone else has that problem when and if they work on their stories on an iPhone.) [/hr] Okay, almost an hour later and Sil was still asleep. He had begun snoring again about a minute after I said how much time he had left to catch up on sleep, and it had continued ever since. I couldn't blame him though; after what happened last night, it didn't surprise me that he wanted to catch up on lost sleep time. I would've woken him up twenty minutes ago if he didn't look so contented. I wondered if he was dreaming, and if so, what about. "I take it he had a nightmare last night?" I looked up to see Raven walk in, still looking partially asleep. "Yeah." I filled him in. "I've had at least a few myself, but that was the first time I comforted someone else about it." The black bat pony smiled as he walked over. "Well it looks like you did a great job." He said. "It's been awhile since the last time I saw him sleep this heavily." I glanced down at the colt that slept in my lap. "Well I was going to start figuring out breakfast at 7:30, but this has been making it hard." I said back. "I don't think I can get up without waking him." Raven raised a forehoof to his muzzle in thought. "... I think I know how to solve this." He spoke after mulling it over. "But from my experience there's a 50-50 chance of it actually working." "Never hurts to try, though." I pointed out, receiving a nod in return. "Hey little bro." Raven spoke softly while giving Sil a few gentle nudges. "You need to wake up." Shifting slightly, the blue colt yawned sleepily and slowly opened one eye, which focused on his older brother. "You just need to move and then you can go right back to sleep." Raven continued in the same soft volume. "Zach needs to make breakfast." Sil's open eye drifted back closed. "But I'm comfortable here..." He murmured. Raven looked at me as if to say "any other ideas?" "... I understand that, but you still need to move." I said softly, only for the colt to mumble sleepily and wrap his forelegs around my right arm, clearly not intent on letting me go. I looked at Raven to say "what now?" He paused, before a sly smile appeared on his muzzle. Gently climbing onto the couch, he leaned in close to me and whispered: "Pyra and I have a last resort method of getting him up; I can do it myself, but you're more than welcome to join in." My curiosity piqued as the black bat pony moved a forehoof over his brother's exposed left side, hovering a couple of inches below the base of his wings, just below the point the edges stopped covering his back. He winked at me before digging his hoof into Sil's side and wiggling it wildly, causing the blue colt to burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggling. I admit, at the time, I had no idea he had ticklish sides. "C-cut tha-at out-t!" Sil managed to say despite his giggling. "Not until you get up, buddy!" Raven replied with a grin on his face. Surprisingly managing to keep his forelegs wrapped firmly around my arm, Sil rolled onto his left side in an attempt to curb the tickles, only to expose his right side. Unable to stop myself from grinning at the sight, I joined in, turning the colt's giggles into full-blown laughter. "O-kay-y!" He said after a few seconds of futilely attempting to push us away. "I'll-l m-o-ove!" Both Raven and I stopped, letting the blue colt stretch himself out before he moved off my lap and laid back down in front of his smiling brother while closing his eyes once again. "So is there anything in particular you'd like me to make?" I asked Raven. "If you have the ingredients and it's not too much trouble, some blueberry pancakes would be nice." The black bat pony said while laying down and draping a wing over his brother's back. "Comin' right up." I replied while entering the kitchen.
DiscoverySnow, streetlights, and lit signs prominently stood out against the black, clouded night sky. The crunch crunch crunch of snow under my boots partially blocked out the semi-common sound of a motor that indicated a passing vehicle. Hanging from my right arm was the reassuring weight of my few groceries. A small white cloud appeared in front of my face everytime I exhaled. And I felt happy. It was a chilly winter here in Washington state, cold enough for it to be snowing as much as it was. It wasn't snowing nearly as heavily as it would be in, say, Alaska, but it was enough for the local news stations to advise motorists to equip snow tires, as well as tire chains if you lived in an area that generally received more snow than average. I didn't live in a particularly snowy area, so I didn't need tire chains unless I was going up to the mountains to have some fun in the snow. And down here, my little hatchback did perfect with its winter tires. But the grocery store I went to, which was also the closest to my house, took less than five minutes if the crosswalks were timed well with the traffic, and I was only buying a few things, small enough for me to carry. And I felt like going for a walk. As I waited to cross the street, I went over my plans for tonight: cook what I just bought a few minutes ago, watch my DVD set of all nine seasons of The King Of Queens, and inevitably fall asleep before watching all nine seasons. Not the most exciting way to spend an evening, but that didn't mean I wouldn't enjoy it. I lived alone, and didn't have any pets; a gopher snake that I owned since I was in pre-school (about four years old, during which the snake itself was also very young) passed away when I was seventeen, and a cat that my family and I owned before I moved out stayed with them, half because he often didn't like it when somebody he knew well left the house, and half because with my job, I wouldn't be able to spend much time with him. Yet I wasn't bothered by any of this. I got to work with cars (as well as trucks, SUVs, and an occasional van), which was the type of job I wanted, and it had a good pay, not to mention it introduced me to some great people and fellow auto enthusiasts. And I had the internet to help keep me entertained. If I hadn't been frequently checking out the channel of a YouTuber I liked, I never would've done some research and discovered (and later joined) the Friendship is Magic fanbase (or possibly even known about the show). I had even written some FiM fanfics. I was approaching the short uphill path that ended at the cul-de-sac where I lived when I was brought back to full awareness of the world around me by... I looked down at my left foot. ... A pebble? The way it bopped into my leg, as well as the lack of places where it could've fallen from told me that it didn't happen naturally; somebody had tossed it. "... Anybody there?" I asked the cold air. Silence responded. I was about to keep walking when another pebble bounced off of me. I turned in the direction I assumed it had come from. And, in some bushes, effortlessly spotted three pairs of eyes. Big eyes. Cartoonish big eyes. They all had yellow irises, but were unique in that they all had vertical slit pupils, like a cat's, or a typical dragon's. Two of the pairs were the same size, but the third pair was smaller, appearing to be, at most, 60-percent the size of the other two pairs. "What in the... ?" I was struck speechless by the trio that emerged from the bushes. They were ponies; Friendship is Magic bat ponies. I blinked a few times, rubbed my eyes, and stared, wondering if for some reason I had begun hallucinating. They didn't disappear; they just stared back. "..." "..." What heck was going on here? I was just planning to relax at home and watch a sitcom so popular that reruns were still being aired even though the show's final episode aired several years ago, back in 2008. Now, three characters from a crazy popular cartoon were suddenly real? Was this going to be like the heart-wrenching fanfic My Little Dashie? Were they going to try to convince me to go back to Equestria with them? Was the multiverse theory actually true, or was this just a very vivid dream or even a very vivid hallucination? What in the world was going on?! Yet another pebble bouncing off of my boots brought me out of my mental ramble, and I noticed something had been written in the snow. help I looked back at the ponies. "..." They blankly stared back. "..." I looked around, seeing nobody. "... Follow me." I said, breaking the awkward and tense silence that hung in the air, before resuming my walk home. The softer sound of crunching snow confirmed that they were doing so, or at least understood English. The latter case was especially good, because I'm only fluent in English. I know a few words and sentences in a handful of other languages, but that's it. I didn't see anybody else as we walked up to my house, alleviating my concern that this could really go south. I was also glad that all of my home's blinds and curtains were closed, in case anybody happened to cast a passing glance at one of the windows. They were understandably hesitant to enter at first, but once they saw the inside after I switched on the lights, they entered without hesitation. After directing them to the couch, I went into the kitchen and started cooking my dinner. Once that was in progress, I sat on the other end of the couch. "Okay..." I said, breaking the dead air. "First thing's first: how did you end up here in the first place?" Now in full light, I could see their specific appearences. The one I assumed was the leader was a male, with a pitch black mane, tail, and coat, broken only by his yellow irises. Aside from the last detail and the whites of his eyes, he looked like Mad Max's Interceptor in pony form. Second, and by far the most eye-catching of the three, was a female who appeared to be about the same age as the black-on-black one; eye-catching due to her bright red fur, yellow mane tied back in a single braid (finished with a turquoise bead just before the end) that hung in front of her chest and I assumed extended halfway down her forelegs, also-braided yellow tail, and, quite surprisingly, a horn portruding from her forehead. I decided to put that on my mental "ask about later" shelf. Finally was a male colt that I guessed was 10 or 11 years old. Like Black-on-black, he had a pitch black mane and tail, but was distinguished by a dark blue coat. Black-on-black spoke, his voice confirming my guess that he was in his late teens to early twenties. "We were escaping." He said. "This was the only place we could get to, and we'd been hiding in that bush for just ten minutes when you came by." "Well, either this is the most vivid dream I've ever had, the first time I've had a hallucination, or there's much more to the universe than the whole world knows about, because logically, you shouldn't be real here." I replied, making Black-on-black lower one of his ears in confusion. "What do you mean?" "Have you ever heard of the multiverse theory?" I asked, making all three of them pause. "... It says that there are an infinite number of universes, all with different realities, some only differed by one event, right?" Said the lone female of the group, who for now I decided to refer to as "Fire". "Precisely. Only here, we've never actually ever traveled between universes." "Don't you have magic?" Asked the youngest, who I for now named "Colt". "Actually, magic is merely fictional in this 'verse." I explained. "We instead use advanced technology for many things, and while we've created some extremely rare elements that only exist for a fraction of a second, we've never managed to travel between universes." Black-on-black was about to speak, but was cut off by the microwave's alarm. "This'll only take, at most, fifteen seconds." I said while getting up and going to the kitchen. After I followed the instructions and set the microwave again, I returned to the couch to resume our conversation. But I glanced at the clock, and saw that it was almost 10 p.m. "Listen, it's getting late, I've gotta get into bed in about an hour, I've still gotta eat, and the three of you no doubt have many questions. How about I put on some entertainment for us to watch, and we pick this up tomorrow morning?" I said. "Fine by me." Replied Fire. "Good." I paused. "What are you're names, anyway?" I asked. "I'm Raven." Black-on-black said. I decided not to tell him that his name was generally considered to be a girl's name. "This is my sister Pyra." He motioned to Fire with one wing. "And my younger brother Sil." He motioned to Colt with his other wing. "Well, I hope the three of you can make yourselves comfortable, because I don't know how long you'll be here. And, because this is a place you've never seen before." I said. "I think we'll manage." Raven replied. "We're used to it by now." I wondered what he meant as I turned on the TV and DVD player. Author's Note There it is; the first chapter of my Life With A Wonderbolt spin-off, featuring three new characters. Fun fact: the state and area the narrator lives in, as well as the snake he mentioned, are the same as my real life (I live in Washington state, and a gopher snake I had since I was in pre-school passed away when I was 17... which was earlier this year. In early October (Oct. 3rd), I turned 18). I'm still working on the details of what's going to happen in the next chapter, so don't expect it to be finished quickly.
IntroductionsThe next morning, I woke up to find all three of my new guests huddled together on the other end of the couch, fast asleep. I had finished breakfast when they woke, standing, stretching their legs and wings, and then lying back down. As cute as that was, I had questions to answer. "So..." I said while sitting back down. "What'd you like to know first?" Raven was the first to speak. "Where are we? And who are you?" "I'm Zach, and you're on a planet called Earth, where things I'm guessing are far different from what you've seen." I responded. "What's next?" "Yesterday, you said that we logically shouldn't exist here." The black bat pony continued. "What did you mean?" "I mean you're not real life real here. Fact is, here, Equestria, as well as your entire world, is a fictional cartoon." "... How much of it?" Raven continued. "Mainly The Elements of Harmony being rediscovered and used to stop Nightmare Moon's second takeover attempt, then later the events of Discord's escape, King Sombra's defeat, Twilight Sparkle becoming a princess, and Tirek's attempted takeover, to name name a few." I named most of the big events covered in the show. "Of course we've got fictional stories written by fans that either cover past events that are only mentioned but never actually shown because the show's supposed to be appropriate for little kids, are darker takes on events that are covered, are set in a future Equestria, or just tell their own story with characters from the show, or their own characters that would be from the show." "..." "..." "..." All three of them were silent. "There's more to it, but I'm not sure I'd be able to explain all of it." I continued. "So what's you're next question?" "... What's the magic here like?" Pyra asked. "Magic doesn't exist in this universe; we instead use technology to achieve things that otherwise would be impossible." I explained. "Like?" She continued. "Like the ability to travel 759 miles in about 16 hours, and that's by car. By airplane, that drops to about 2 hours." I responded. The alicorn blinked a few times, clearly trying to process what I had just said. "Technology can do some amazing things." I said with a smile. "What exactly is a 'car', or an 'airplane'?" Sil asked curiously. I Googled "airplane" on my iPhone and enlarged an image before showing it to them. "This is an airplane." I said. "The first one that actually flew did so a little over 100 years ago. Today's planes are leaps and bounds ahead of that. They use specially-built engines that run on special combustible fuel to provide enough thrust to push their massive bulk to speeds in excess of 350 miles per hour, and clever aerodynamics to acheive flight and stay in the air. Most commonly, they provide a driving alternative that's much faster, albeit more expensive, because they can carry dozens of people at once." "..." "..." "..." Again, all three of them were struck silent. "And cars?" Sil continued. "They're even older, first appearing nearly 140 years ago as an alternative to horse-drawn carriages." I was greeted with three blank stares. "Here, humans are the only known species in existence with this level of cognitive ability. Before automobiles came around, people traveled either on foot, on boat, on horseback, or on horse-drawn carriages." I elaborated. That appeared to answer that unasked question. "Anyway, over the years they've become safer, quieter, more efficient, more comfortable, and much faster. The one that I own is actually still pretty new, but that hasn't stopped me from doing things with it that no ordinary car could." "How do these cars work?" Raven asked. "I can give you either the simple, complex, or semi-complex explanation. Which would you prefer?" I replied. They briefly huddled and whispered before turning back to me. "Semi-complex." Raven spoke for all three of them. I pulled out a pencil and a sheet of blank paper. "First, air is drawn through a tube here, which has a filter to prevent contaminants from getting into and potentially damaging the engine..." [/hr] "And finally the braking force is transferred through the tires to the ground, slowing the vehicle." I finished my semi-complex explanation of how a car goes and stops, once again being answered with silence. "... Why doesn't our world have that?" Sil questioned. "Because it would be pretty much pointless." I pointed out. "You can fly on your own, you can teleport, and enough strong earth ponies can do things that we use technology to do. And these things rely on combustion to generate power, so they pollute the air as a consequence, though there are a few vehicles that run either on hydrogen or far more commonly, pure electricity. Those vehicles have their compromises and they're rather pricey, but the electric ones demonstrate an effective alternative fuel." "But then why are there so few of them compared to regular-fuel vehicles?" Pyra asked with genuine curiosity obvious in her voice. "Because electric vehicles can't recharge as fast as a regular vehicle can be refueled, not to mention they typically have a much shorter range than traditional gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles. The latter is why they largely fell out of use between 90 and 100 years ago, not to mention you can't thrash 'em on a racetrack as long as you can a regular car." "Racetrack?" Raven spoke up. "It's like tracks pegasi use, only on entirely on the ground and used by motor vehicles, and without any crazy things like loop-de-loops." "Because cars can't fly, right?" Sil asked. "Exactly. There have been a few attempts at making a flying car in the past, but they all either didn't fly at all, or flew briefly before crashing, so I highly doubt they'll exist in my lifetime." "Do you race?" Raven asked me. "I do, but not professionally, like The Wonderbolts." I responded. "I instead go to autocross races, which are tight courses marked by cones set up in an open space that emphasize agility and traction over brute power, and track days, where a racetrack is open to the general public and you can run as many hot laps as you like, or as much as your ride can handle before it starts to experience some serious wear-related issues. You can drive whatever you want, and it's common for people there to race with their daily driver, the same ride they use to get to and from work, run errands in, take other people in, all of that stuff." "Is your car fast?" Pyra asked. "It's fast for what's basically a jumped-up econobox with dull performance in lower specs." I got up. "I can show it to you, if you'd like." That really got them interested. I put on my jacket and boots, and lead them outside to my little green hatchback. "This is my car," I announced, "a 2015 Ford Fiesta ST. Far from being the fastest of its kind, but you'd be hard pressed to find another front-wheel-drive car that can make you smile so much." "What kind of engine does it have?" Pyra asked me while her brothers began to walk around the machine to get a closer look. "A turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four making 197 horsepower. Not really going to be winning many drag races with that kind of power, but it's a blast to drive, and still performs terrifically in the snow." I checked my watch. 9:00 am "Well, we've got about twelve-and-a-half hours to kill before I settle down for sleep, so what do wanna do next?" I spoke. "Just know that because you're logically not real, you can't let anyone else see you." "Why not?" Pyra asked. "I'd rather not find out the hard way, people tend to react badly to crazy things like this." I clarified. "However, I've got a lot of home entertainment options, so if you still wanna get settled in what I'm assuming is your long-term residence." "... Ah the hay with it. I'm not in the mood to play in the snow anyway. And I generally don't like being outside when it's this cold." Raven said after pause. "Well if you want to watch something, I've got what I consider to be a prime selection of options. Movies here have come a long way." I announced while walking back to my house. "What've you got?" Sil asked as he and his two siblings followed. "I've got multiple installments of a seven-installment movie series that has cars as a centerpoint. The first three are really about street racing with some action movie elements, and then 4 through 7 are more action movie with cars as the main weapons; basically vehicular warfare. I've also got one of the greatest action movies ever made, which is set in a post-apocalyptic version of another country. Or if you wanna watch something humorous, I've got a couple of comedies." "... How about that street racing one?" Pyra requested. "Comin' right up." I popped in my Blu-Ray copy of The Fast and The Furious, turned on my television, and sat down on the couch next to my new guests (or possibly housemates), who were almost in trance, watching the Blu-Ray screen before I started the actual movie. [/hr] "Dominic Toretto... You don't know me." Behind him, the orange and black Mazda was engulfed in a ball of fire. "... You're about to." "And that leads into the seventh and final film in the series." I explained. "So who we just saw is the main bad guy in the seventh one?" Raven asked. "Bull's eye." "That's quite an introduction." Pyra commented. "It really makes me want to see Furious 7." "I've actually got that one too." I said. "I'll pop it in right now, unless you want to take the time to get better acquainted with your new home." Again, they huddled. "I guess we'd rather get to know our new home..." Raven finally said with surprising shyness. Why he was suddenly so shy was beyond me, but I had no idea how long they would be here, and if they left at some point, I wanted to help them get as comfortable as possible. [/hr] Author's Notes: Finally got this finished; writer's block and lack of interest dragged this out much longer than I would've liked. I know the ending seems rather abrupt, but I wanted to save the cuteness and feels for the next chapter... whose title will relate to the member of the trio it focuses on. I'm going to be doing this for each character, but the last one might be multiple chapters... I'll figure that one out when I reach it. I'm putting all of this right here because when I put it in the Author's Notes box, it refused to show up for some reason.
ShadowNote: this chapter does get a bit emotionally heavy near the end. Like "My Filly, Nightshine" by The Abyss, this story does have a lot of cute moments (albeit not as well-written), but just like that story, it does have some sad moments too, though in this case, said sad moments are much less frequent (I plan for it to happen, at most, two more times), and much less detailed than what happens in that story; this is probably the darkest it's ever gonna get in this one. If it's enough to at least warrant a "T" rating, I'll make the change... but enough of my rambling; onto the short-but-sweet fluff! [/hr] The next couple of hours were spent introducing and explaining my world to my guests; technology, history, the current state of things, all of that. They naturally had many questions, and though I couldn't answer all of them, I at least answered what I could. I familiarized them with the guest room where they would be staying in for who knew how long. I showed them my assortment of games and retold some of my favorite, scariest, or frustrating moments, which all of them listened to with intense interest, Sil in particular. The normally quieter colt asked the most questions when it came to the games, taking a particular interest in Mad Max. He was a little bummed when I explained its lukewarm reception, and he was well aware that he couldn't play it, but that didn't stop him from using the puppy eyes on his brother, sister, and to an extent, me, to convince us to let him watch me play. I only played to the point after I retrieved a body for the Magnum Opus, but all three of them were practically hypnotized the entire time. It was after they had wound down that Sil asked a surprising question seemingly out of nowhere. "Can you take me for a ride in your car?" "... Come again?" I asked back. "Can you take me for a ride in your car?" He repeated. "Uh..." I turned towards his siblings for the answer. "We've got some unpacking to do, so I don't have a problem with that." Pyra said. "If you really want to bro, and it's okay with Zach, then you can go." Raven added. "Pleeeeeeeeeease?" Sil almost begged me while giving me his best puppy eyes. Ugh, foul play... "... If you really want to that badly, then let's go." I said finally, half-expecting to receive a hug that effectively doubled as a tackle. I instead received a very excited squee and almost received a dent in the living room's ceiling when the colt jumped into the air. "It's still snowing, so I suggest you bundle up." I said while slipping my jacket and boots back on and grabbing my keys. It was when I opened the front door that I realized something, only for Sil to almost bolt outside and stop by my little hatchback. "Calm down Sil, I need to grab a few things before we can go." I said while heading back to my room. I noticed the confused looks I received from Raven and Pyra when I came back with a few pillows. "If he's gonna ride with me, he's gonna need these to be able to see out the window." I explained before exiting. Sil remained still by the passenger's side door as I unlocked the doors and arranged the pillows on the seat, before motioning for him to get in. After showing him how to put on the seatbelt, I closed his door, opened the driver's side, got in, buckled up, and fired up the motor, the little four breaking the silence with its now very familiar tone, amplified by the sound system that seemed to be common on so many performance-oriented cars nowadays. I moved the shifter into reverse, a stick shift, naturally, though that was the Fiesta ST's only tranny, backed out of the driveway, and started off. Sil was borderline hypnotized as we trundled along the side streets that had no traffic. We continued like this for about five minutes before the colt spoke up. "Can we go someplace fast?" He asked me. "That depends on what you mean." I responded while turning around in a cul-de-sac. "I mean can you go someplace where you can drive fast?" Sil clarified. "I know of one place that my friends and I go to during this time of the year, but in weather like this it's probably going to take about thirty minutes to get there." "Can we go there?" My passenger asked eagerly. I steered onto the street that ran by the cul-de-sac where my house was. "... I'll have to run it by your brother and sister first, and if they're okay with it, then yes we can." [/hr] Raven and Pyra were still unpacking when Sil and I came back, and though they were understandably hesitant at first, the excitement in their little brother's eyes won them over. The colt's excitement didn't wane the slightest when we drove along the highway; if anything, it actually grew. It still didn't waver even when I steered off the actual road. I guided my car through the snow to a clearing, and stopped before putting the shifter in neutral. "Just so you know Sil, you can always tell me if things start getting too fast for you." I said while the still very excited colt turned his gaze to the invisible path ahead of us. I started one particular song on my phone. "..." Through the speakers, a soft rhythm started. I revved the motor a few times, listening to the turbo's whistle. I depressed the clutch and shifted into first. The background rhythm was joined by a second rhythm that started soft but gradually increased in volume. "..." I gave the motor another rev, and just as the music really started, dumped the clutch and nearly floored the throttle, unleashing the turbocharged torque and letting the real limited-slip diff I had installed sort it out. Countless hours of practicing driving hard in poor weather had taught me well, and I delicately modulated the gas pedal to keep traction at maximum as we charged forwards. It was only after we were well underway that I went full tilt. I unwound the turbo four to its perfect shift point then entered second gear. Ahead, a right turn loomed. I braked hard, shifted down, and turned in fluidly, getting the front tires to bite and change the car's direction, feathering the right pedal to get us into a smooth, high-speed slide. About two-thirds of me were expecting Sil to want me to pull in the reins, but I was still more surprised than I probably should've been when he spoke over the motor: "Faster!" I didn't waste a moment and pinned the throttle back to the floorboard, getting the car to straighten out. Rapidly approaching the treeline, I slowed again and veered left, the little green Ford turning with an eagerness that many probably wouldn't expect of a car that was still partially in the vehicle category of personal transportation on a budget. Studless tires scrambling in the snow, I went nearly full throttle on the corner's exit, performing a Scandinavian flick to get the little hatchback to swap direction for the right that followed seconds later. Surprisingly responsive in the snow for a front-wheel-drive subcompact car? Possibly. Regardless, I was unable to stop a grin of my own from forming as I crested a slight jump, braking hard and steering hard for the left hairpin turn that shortly followed. Yeah, a Mazda MX-5 would be able to do the same thing to me, but it couldn't carry four people. Sil's cheering mixed with the engine's sound as I straightened out and gradually pushed down on the accelerator, sending us hurtling down the road... [/hr] 1 week later... Sil had really enjoyed the ride I had taken him on; we ended up going for only about ten minutes before I drove back in the interest of not worrying his brother and sister, but when we got back, he seemed like a soft ball of energy. His upbeat attitude seemed to lift their moods a bit, too. As the three of them settled in, each took a different interest in the various things (for lack of a better term) either in my home or in the world. Sil, curious as he always seemed to have been when he arrived, became enamored with the ins and outs of how autos and motorcycles worked, which also made me happy knowing that I could also chat with somebody about my favorite subject. Raven took an interest in computer programming and design, admitting that it only came along after watching me play Mad Max. Even though I was no expert on the subject, I still explained what I could and showed him a couple games my friends and I were working on in our spare time. Pyra quickly became attatched to literature; be it Stephen King's horror stories or sometimes outright ridiculous fan-made stories, it didn't matter to her as long as it was of good quality. But there was more to them than appeared, as I found out one night after falling asleep on the living room couch after staying up late to finish some work. [/hr] I drifted back into the waking world when I felt something poke one of my arms. Gradually regaining awareness of everything around me, I could here shaky breathing. ... And... sniffling? I glanced at the clock, seeing that it was 1 am. Turning towards the sound, I quickly spotted a quivering figure partially illuminated by the hallway light sitting on the floor next to me. "... Sil?" I spoke softly. "What're you doing up at this time?" "... I... I had a scary dream..." He shakily responded between sniffles. I vaguely remembered his older brother mentioning that they were escaping when I found them; I wondered if that had something to do with it. "Come on up." I continued to speak softly while patting the space next to me, feeling him quickly climb onto the couch and lay down. "Do you remember what happened?" "I... I don't... want to..." Sil continued to speak in a shaky voice. I paused, remembering something my parents told me when I was young. "Listen, buddy." I spoke gently. "No matter how scary it was, in the end, it was still a dream, and dreams can't hurt you. Even though it may not feel like it at first, telling someone about it will help you feel better." I rested a hand on his back. "Now try to remember what happened." He sniffed, hesitated, then started. "It was a bad memory... of what happened just before we came here... *sniff*... years ago, us and our parents left the place we had been living near for so long, so we could go someplace where we'd be able to live among others that didn't care about our appearance... *sniff*... But shortly after we left... we were ambushed..." He paused. "Take your time, there's no need to rush it." I said. After a short silence, he continued. "We managed to get away from them for a little bit, but they eventually caught up... then my parents guided my brother and sister and I... *sniff*... to some ponies they knew that would be able to get us out of there..." Another pause; despite the not-very-bright light coming from the hallway providing subpar vision in the area we were in, I could see tears start welling up in the colt's eyes. "... My mom and dad died buying all of us enough time to flee... *sniff*... and we ended up here when the ponies that did it found us again..." I could see he was struggling to hold back more tears. "Come on now, let it out." I encouraged softly. "... I dreamed that we died too..." The dam that he had been trying to hold together finally burst. Without thinking, I scooped the little colt up in my arms and held him close as he wept. At this point, I tuned out any other thoughts that were drifting around inside my mind; all that mattered right now was that I gave the poor kid some level of comfort as thought back to things that he'd rather keep in the past. After about five minutes of weeping, Sil had calmed down to the point where he could speak with relative coherence, and another minute afterwards, he had gone quiet, save the occasional sniff, though I could feel him still trembling. "Hey now..." I continued to speak softly. "What will it take to make you feel better?" I noticed his ears suddenly laid sideways. "*sniff*... Well..." I remained silent, letting the suddenly shy colt work up the courage to speak. "... Usually, when this happens... if my brother is awake, he gives me back rubs... and if my sister's awake, she sings to me..." He said in a volume noticeably quieter than before. Hmmm... "... I think I have an idea that will give you both at once." I said. Reaching over, I picked up my phone and opened the music app. Plugging my earbuds in, I started a random song and turned the volume down to the minimum, before putting one of the buds in one of Sil's ears and putting the other in mine. Shifting slightly to make myself more comfortable, I rested a hand on the colt's back. "Just let me know if you want the volume turned up or want me to play a different song." I said before starting one particular song; as the music started, I began gently scratching. It didn't take long before he began to relax. As he did, his eyelids began to droop. I always enjoyed this song; it was a favorite of mine growing up, and Sil seemed to like it, too. Of course, it was playing in only one ear; the other was hearing the sound of my fingers going back and forth across his back. scritch scritch scritch scritch [/hr] By the end of the song about three minutes and forty-five seconds later, his eyes had drifted entirely closed, and he had a very sleepy smile on his muzzle. It was just then that a question arrived in my head. "Hey Sil." I softly spoke while pausing the song after it ended, hearing him semi-coherently mumble in response. "What does your name mean?" The now sleepy colt opened his mouth to speak, only to yawn instead, before he finally spoke. "It's short for Silhouette..." He mumbled tiredly before yawning again. "... Could you please play that song again... ?" Smiling, I tapped the song again, causing it to restart. scritch scritch scritch scritch After the song ended a second time, I made the cutest discovery. Sil snored when he slept. It wasn't loud, but it was still audible. "Sweet dreams, Silhouette." I whispered before letting myself drift off. [/hr] The next morning... I awoke to a bundle of warmth in my lap. Opening my eyes to the sunlight partially blocked by the curtains, I looked towards the source of the warmth to find a certain little blue colt curled up in my lap, sound asleep and snoring softly. I couldn't help but smile at the adorable sight as I began gingerly stroking his mane, watching him shift slightly and curl up a bit tighter. I decided to let him sleep; after the rude awakening he'd had in the very early morning, the little guy undoubtedly needed to catch up some. Eventually, Sil yawned sleepily before getting up and arching his back and spreading his wings, then stretching his legs, making a quick circle... and finally lying back down. Awwww... "Good morning." I said, receiving another tired yawn in response. "One day you'll give someone a heart attack with that adorableness." The colt's cheeks flushed slightly as he curled up a bit tighter before he opened his eyes. "... Do I have to get up?" He mumbled. "Eventually, yes, but not right now." I replied. "It's only 7, so I say you've got a good half-hour before you have to get up." That seemed to be an answer Sil was hoping for, as he closed his eyes and fell back into a light doze. Smiling, I resumed scratching his back. scritch scritch scritch scritch Author's Notes: Block finally cleared up enough for me to get back to working on this story; in a way, I'm glad that the block lasted as long as it did, because it meant I could think about and refine this chapter. Writing the heavy part took a bit more effort, not because I have difficulty writing it in general, but rather because it's in an otherwise generally lighthearted and fluffy story. Unfortunately, this chapter drained me of any inspiration that would help me come up with the events that will connect this chapter with the next... but just for the heck of it, can you guess which sibling is going to be the main focus of the next part of the story?
Preview!Fully finishing this chapter I suspect will take awhile (don't ask how long, because I can never guess), so in the meantime, here's what I got down so far. Enjoy! (I'm not using the Author's Notes box for this because anything I type in there doesn't show up; I don't know if anyone else has that problem when and if they work on their stories on an iPhone.) [/hr] Okay, almost an hour later and Sil was still asleep. He had begun snoring again about a minute after I said how much time he had left to catch up on sleep, and it had continued ever since. I couldn't blame him though; after what happened last night, it didn't surprise me that he wanted to catch up on lost sleep time. I would've woken him up twenty minutes ago if he didn't look so contented. I wondered if he was dreaming, and if so, what about. "I take it he had a nightmare last night?" I looked up to see Raven walk in, still looking partially asleep. "Yeah." I filled him in. "I've had at least a few myself, but that was the first time I comforted someone else about it." The black bat pony smiled as he walked over. "Well it looks like you did a great job." He said. "It's been awhile since the last time I saw him sleep this heavily." I glanced down at the colt that slept in my lap. "Well I was going to start figuring out breakfast at 7:30, but this has been making it hard." I said back. "I don't think I can get up without waking him." Raven raised a forehoof to his muzzle in thought. "... I think I know how to solve this." He spoke after mulling it over. "But from my experience there's a 50-50 chance of it actually working." "Never hurts to try, though." I pointed out, receiving a nod in return. "Hey little bro." Raven spoke softly while giving Sil a few gentle nudges. "You need to wake up." Shifting slightly, the blue colt yawned sleepily and slowly opened one eye, which focused on his older brother. "You just need to move and then you can go right back to sleep." Raven continued in the same soft volume. "Zach needs to make breakfast." Sil's open eye drifted back closed. "But I'm comfortable here..." He murmured. Raven looked at me as if to say "any other ideas?" "... I understand that, but you still need to move." I said softly, only for the colt to mumble sleepily and wrap his forelegs around my right arm, clearly not intent on letting me go. I looked at Raven to say "what now?" He paused, before a sly smile appeared on his muzzle. Gently climbing onto the couch, he leaned in close to me and whispered: "Pyra and I have a last resort method of getting him up; I can do it myself, but you're more than welcome to join in." My curiosity piqued as the black bat pony moved a forehoof over his brother's exposed left side, hovering a couple of inches below the base of his wings, just below the point the edges stopped covering his back. He winked at me before digging his hoof into Sil's side and wiggling it wildly, causing the blue colt to burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggling. I admit, at the time, I had no idea he had ticklish sides. "C-cut tha-at out-t!" Sil managed to say despite his giggling. "Not until you get up, buddy!" Raven replied with a grin on his face. Surprisingly managing to keep his forelegs wrapped firmly around my arm, Sil rolled onto his left side in an attempt to curb the tickles, only to expose his right side. Unable to stop myself from grinning at the sight, I joined in, turning the colt's giggles into full-blown laughter. "O-kay-y!" He said after a few seconds of futilely attempting to push us away. "I'll-l m-o-ove!" Both Raven and I stopped, letting the blue colt stretch himself out before he moved off my lap and laid back down in front of his smiling brother while closing his eyes once again. "So is there anything in particular you'd like me to make?" I asked Raven. "If you have the ingredients and it's not too much trouble, some blueberry pancakes would be nice." The black bat pony said while laying down and draping a wing over his brother's back. "Comin' right up." I replied while entering the kitchen.
