Through The Rift

"Seriously!? You're just gonna ditch us?" Alex says in confusion as I pack up my bag. I sigh and rub my eyes before pulling out my wallet.

"Here's eight hundred dollars, use it to get home or whatever. I'll get some more out to pay for Rainbow's plane ticket." I explain. Alex and Skyler stare down at the money in my hand before reluctantly taking it.

"Why can't we just go with you?" Skyler asks calmly.

"You don't have passports." I say as I hold up the passport that somehow already had all my information in it. I swear, these government guys stalked me more than I cared to know.

"What about Rainbow!?" Alex says as he points to Rainbow on the couch behind her. She looks up at us after hearing her name.

"She doesn't need a passport, she isn't a human. Even if she did, she would just be able to fly away if anything went down. Look, I don't want to just ditch you guys, I really don't, but I HAVE to do this before it's too late. Both of our worlds are in jeopardy here!" My voice starts to rise in either annoyance or nervousness, can't really tell at this point.

Skyler suddenly lunges forward and wraps her arms around my neck. Alex comes over and sighs before placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Well, if we can't convince you to take us, then I guess this is goodbye for now. Good luck man, go save our world!" Alex says with a reassuring voice. I give him a weak smile as Rainbow walks over to us. After Skyler lets me go, I sling my backpack over my shoulder, and Rainbow and I head for the front door. I wave to my two friends, as this may be the last time I see them for a good week or two. I just hope this isn't the last time...

"So... where exactly is China?" Rainbow asks as we make our way out onto the street. The afternoon air feels cool on my skin, despite it being the middle of summer. I take in a deep breath before letting out a long, deep sigh.

"It's pretty much on the complete other side of the planet. It'll take us hours to get there even by plane. Then we have to travel from Beijing to Shanghai which could take who knows how long. I just hope we can get there in time before another rift opens."

"Yeah, how does that work exactly?"

"The longer that rift in Shanghai is open, the better the chances of another one opening get. The general gave me this device before we left." I pull out a watch and wrap it around my wrist. Before we left the White House, that guy came running out with this watch-like device that goes far beyond any technology I've ever seen. Leave it to the government to hide something like this.

I press a small button on the side of the watch, and a projection of the entire planet floats inches above the watch. The entire hologram consists of different shades of blue, and is about the size of a basketball, maybe a bit bigger. I place my finger on the projection, and swipe it to the right. The planet spins, and I tap it to make it stop once it shows China. Above where Shanghai is located, we can see a red dot that indicates a rift has appeared there. Oh how I love this kind of technology, even if the end of the world has to happen for me to get my hands on it. I press the button again, and the projection gets practically sucked back into the watch.

"That's amazing! So we can see where any rifts are on the entire planet?"

"That's about right, and if another one opens, an alarm should go off telling us the location. However, if we can close this one soon enough, we might not have any more to worry about." I say with a smile, trying to reassure myself.

"I wouldn't push your luck Matt, you've seen how that worked out for you in the past. Stuff doesn't seem to go your way most of the time." Rainbow says with a smirk as we begin to near the airport.

"We'll just have to see about that."

We enter the airport, where we have to wait in line for what feels like hours for a plane ticket to Beijing. I have no idea how I'm gonna get to Shanghai once we get there, but that's a bridge I'll just have to cross when we get there. I mean, it's not like I have any of their currency, so how am I supposed to travel? Damn Rainbow has it easy just being able to fly anywhere at the speed of sound. I wish I could do the same.

I rotate the small cube around in my pocket, thinking about how I'm supposed to close a giant rift in the sky. Do I just aim it at the rift and yell "Abra Cadabra!", or do I have to get close to it? Who the hell knows, yet another bridge I'll cross when I get to it. Finally we get our plane tickets, and now all we have to do is wait until our plane is ready to be boarded. Rainbow and I sit down in the middle of a row of seats in front of the terminal. I pull out my phone, deciding to do some research on Beijing and Shanghai. My heart drops when I see that the distance between the two cities is over eight hundred miles! How the fuck do I travel that far before another rift opens!?

"Rainbow, have you ever carried someone on your back while flying?"

"Um, no? Why?"

"Just thinking of ideas of how we're going to get to Shanghai once we land. It's over eight hundred miles between the two cities, and I have no clue how we'll travel that far without any currency."

"You have plenty of money Matt..."

"No, I have American dollars, but those are only worth something here. They don't mean shit in China. I've never had to change my currency before, so I have no idea how to go about doing that."

"Well, how are you going to buy a plane ticket back if you can't spend any money over there?"

"I bought a round-class trip. So I already have the tickets to come back. It's a matter of getting to Shanghai that I'm worried about."

"Now boarding, flight 815." I hear over the intercom that is pretty close to us. I check my ticket to see that that is our flight, and I grab my bag and head for the terminal gates. I show the lady working there our tickets, and she lets us through with a smile. Of course, she gives Rainbow a curious look, but doesn't say anything about it. We head to our seats near the front of the plane, and we both plop down with a sigh. I got the window seat thankfully, as I love watching the clouds pass beneath us when we're in the air.

Alright, this is an overnight flight, so that should give me plenty of time to think about... Oh shoot, I never told my parents I was going to another country on the other side of the planet. Good thing I can still use my phone while we're on the ground. I call my parent's house, and after it rings for a few seconds, my mother picks up.

"Hello Matt! How's your trip?"

"Oh, it's um... good, real good. Hey listen mom, can you watch Star for another week or two? I'm... going to be in Shanghai for a while."

"As in Shanghai, China? Why on Earth do you need to go to China Matthew?"

"I just have some business to clear up. Nothing too important." I lie through my teeth. "But can you just watch Star for a little longer?"

"Oh of course! Emily just loves her you know. They've been sleeping together every night. Emily holds her like a teddy bear or a doll, and it is just the most adorable thing ever!" I picture the scene in my head, and it makes a new smile form on my face.

"Sounds great mom! You gotta send me a picture the next time they do that. Listen, I gotta go, we're about to take off. Love ya!" I hang up abruptly as I hear the pilot come on over the intercom. He gives the routine safety bit before the plane finally starts to move along the runway. I look over at Rainbow who seems to be bored already. Maybe I can entertain her.

"Hey Rainbow, you like books right?" I say as I reach a hand into my backpack.

"W-What? Um, I mean, only Daring Do because she's cool! Any other books are for eggheads."

"So you don't wanna read one of my favorite books of all time?" I say as I pull out one of the books I brought along with me on the trip. I brought them for this very situation where I might have gotten bored.

"...What's it called?"

"Treasure Island. It's about this kid who finds himself on board a pirate ship, and he goes on this adventure to find this treasure... I bet you'll love it, it's sorta like Daring Do in a way, what with the adventures and everything." Rainbow eyes the book curiously, obviously not wanted to give in to the temptation. She groans to herself as she reaches over and grabs the hardback book out of my hands.

"Fine, but if I don't like it, you owe me big time!"

"Alright alright, trust me, you'll love it." Rainbow starts the book, and I place on a pair of headphones as I wait to use my electronics again. Once we get to the point where we are allowed to, I pull out my phone and plug the headphones in. It doesn't take long before I fall asleep to the calming music.

I wake a while later, and check my new watch to see the time. We left at about three in the afternoon, and it is now around eight in the evening. I look out the window to see the beautiful night sky. We're gonna land in Los Angeles pretty soon to switch flights. I look to my right to see Rainbow asleep as well, the book I had given her open on top of her chest. From what I can see, she is on about page fifty, so I guess she actually liked it.

Once we land, we stretch our sore muscles as we exit the plane. The Los Angeles airport is way busier that I imagined. We have to literally push our way through crowds just to get to our next flight. We get there about twenty minutes before the boarding time, and decide to get some late night dinner. By dinner, I mean a Big Mac from McDonald's, and a simple salad for Rainbow. We sit down in front of the terminal gates, and eat quietly as we wait. Being on the other side of the country, nobody here has seen Rainbow before. You wouldn't believe how many pictures we took with complete strangers in a matter of ten minutes!

Once all of that nonsense cools down, I check my watch to see that the plane is gonna run late if we don't board in the next few minutes. I guess they were taking a little too long to fuel up or something. I'm about to place my headphones on, but a guy comes and sits next to me.

"Ugh, you waiting for this flight too?" He asks with a sigh as he leans his head back to look at the ceiling. He looks to be about my age, maybe nineteen or twenty.

"Yeah, a real pain in the ass if you ask me. Wouldn't it be easier if we all had these?" I lean back to reveal Rainbow next to me. I grab the tip of her wing by a feather, not wanting to touch the actual appendage in public. I found just touching her feathers does nothing to her.

"No way, is that the alien I've heard about on the news?"

"Yep, the one and only!" Rainbow says as she puts a hoof to her chest. "Name's Rainbow Dash." She sticks out a hoof, and the guy shakes it. I extend my hand to him.

"Matthew Green, or just Matt works too." I say with a smile. I shake his hand, and he returns the smile.

"Cedrick, nice to meet you Matt. What takes you to China?"

"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret." I look around before pulling out small blue cube. I have to come up with a name for this damn thing. "I'm gonna close that rift that appeared over Shanghai."

"No way, that thing on the news?"

"Yep, the world is seriously in trouble if we don't get that thing patched up." Rainbow says as she leans forward to look around me.

"How exactly are you gonna do that? Not like you can control time and space itself!" I toss the cube up in the air, and catch it again. As soon as it makes contact with my hand, I shoot my fist forward and a lightning bolt shoots out of the cube. A more haggard version of a portal opens up on the wall of ahead of us that leads into the middle of Ponyville, keeping in mind that portals between worlds have no effect on the rifts.

"That's amazing! What else can that thing do?" Cedrick asks, a now curious look on his face. I close the portal and turn to face him.

"Not sure, but I guess I'll find out soon enough huh?"

"Yeah... looks like our flight is ready." He says as he stands up.

"Hey yeah, I forgot to ask, what are you going to Beijing for?"

"Got an awesome internship there at this game company. I'm so excited for it."

"That sounds awesome! I've been playing games since I was little, who knows, maybe you'll make the next big title!"

"Here's hoping! I'll see you around Matt, you're a cool guy. You too Rainbow Dash." We both wave to Cedrick, but I turn around and catch him before he can head back to his seat.

"Hey, let me get your number, maybe you can help me out when we get to Beijing."

"Alright, here it is." He holds out his phone, and I copy down the phone number. Cedrick just might be my ticket to Shanghai.

"Thanks man, I might have to ask you a favor when we get to China, that cool with you?"

"Yeah, I could probably help you out." The pilot comes over the intercom telling us all to sit down. He nods and waves with a smile as he heads to his seat in the back. Rainbow and I sit down in our seats, and thankfully I get the window seat again. As we take off, I watch the ground slowly disappears below us. I lean back and close my eyes with a tired sigh. Should probably get some more sleep.

That is my last thought before I drift off to into a dreamless slumber.

Off to China we go!