For Sanity's Sake

Twilight’s castle stood at the edge of Ponyville. The crystalized home stood proud and tall, the sun’s rays reflecting off of the outside walls, making the whole place shimmer. Standing outside of the crystal castle, stood a single unicorn stallion. This stallion had a light green coat and a blonde mane and tail and sported a grey vest. He stared at the castle for five minutes, analyzing every detail. He brought out a piece of paper with his magic and scanned it. He constantly switched from looking the paper to looking back up at the castle. After he was done comparing, he put the list away and approached the door. He jiggled the handle with his hoof, only to find out that it’s locked.

“That won’t do,” he said to himself.

He scanned his surroundings to make sure the coast was clear. Once he saw that there was no one in sight, he brought out a small knife with his magic and began to pick the lock. After shifting and messing with the lock, the door slowly creaked open. The stallion formed a small smirk as he caught a glimpse of the brightly colored interior.

“Well, here goes nothing,” he spoke as he brought out another knife and entered the castle. He closed the door behind him and began to wander around the place. Unfortunately, there was somepony watching him from afar.

Meanwhile, Twilight was relaxing in her room, reading a good book. She had a cup of tea near her in case she got thirsty and the shades open so that enough sunlight would shine in the room. As she was reading, her dragon assistant, Spike, entered the room.

“Hey Twilight, I finished dusting those book shelves like you asked,” he said.

“That’s great, Spike,” she replied.

“Anything else you’d like me to do?” he offered.

“Nothing comes to mind right now, but I’ll let you know.”

“Ok. By the way, when do you think you’ll have another ‘adventure’?” he asked sarcastically.

“What do you mean?” she wondered.

“Well, nothing has been going on for the past few days. Ever since you and Fluttershy got back from that village, it’s been a little quiet here in Ponyville. Maybe a little too quiet.”

“Are you saying you want another disaster to happen?” she joked.

“What? No! Of course not! I’m just saying it’s been really calm lately. Especially with-“

“Trust me, nothing bad is going to happen,” she interrupted. “It’s actually nice that it’s so mellow. Although, it has gotten little boring lately. But it’s nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said. “It’s not like its-“

Before he could finish, there was a loud crash coming from the hallway. The sound made Twilight and Spike jump and their eyes shrunk from shock.

“What was that?” asked Spike.

“Stop him!” yelled a voice. Twilight recognized that it belonged to Rainbow Dash.

“That doesn’t sound good. C’mon Spike!” she ordered and they both exited the room.

They both ran as fast as they can, the screams and crashes suddenly became louder. As they turned the corner, they were shocked with what they found. The green stallion was using his magic to launch several throwing knives at Rainbow Dash, luckily she evaded each knife.

Applejack swung her lasso and used it to wrap around the stallions front hoof, only for the attacker to swiftly cut it off with his dagger. He threw the knife towards Applejack; but before it could hit her, a crystalized shield appeared in front of AJ and blocked the knife. Rarity then threw her make-shift shield at the stallion, but he dodged it right before it could hit him. Fluttershy was just cowering behind the curtains and Pinkie was nowhere to be found. Twilight and Spike could only gasp at what they were seeing, she didn’t know how to react.

“What the hay is going here?!” she exclaimed.

“You tell me!” yelled Rainbow Dash. “First minute we’re just relaxing and then THIS guy shows up!” The stallion then drew his attention towards Twilight.

“Where’s your crown?!” he yelled.

“What?”

“You’re Twilight Sparkle, right? Just give me your crown and I’ll be out of here!”

“What? What are you talking about, what do you want with my crown?” she asked.

The stallion didn’t answer, all he did was run towards Twilight at lightning speed. He charged right through AJ and Rarity and reaching closer to Twilight. She charged her horn ready to attack, wings flared and her sight locked on him. However, instead of attacking her, the stallion jumped right over her. He landed right behind her and continue to run, right for the door at the end of the hall.

“I bet it’s in there!” he yelled as he got closer to the door. Twilight and the others ran after him.

“Stop!” demanded Twilight.

She fired her horn and a beam shot out. It hit the stallion on his right flank, he yelled as he could feel the heat of the beam burning at his fur. That didn’t stop him, he let out a loud yelp of pain and continued to run towards the door. He started to chuckle as his destination was only a few meters away. He burst right through the door with a confident grin knowing that he made it. His grin quickly went away as he found out what was on the other side. There, stood Pinkie Pie, with her party canon aimed at him.

“Surprise!” she yelled.

“Oh, you son of a-“

Before he could finish, he was blasted with confetti, powder, and even a cake. The blast launched him backwards, making him rocket past the others. The others turned around and saw him fly through the window, shattering glass and skipping on the hard ground below. He laid defeated and covered with frosting on the ground outside, with his vest torn and knives scattered everywhere. The stallion lifted on eye and noticed the piece of paper he had was now torn to shreds. He let out of groan and closed his eye.

Twilight and the others made it outside. Twilight was the most surprised out of all of them. Why did he attack them? What did he want with her crown? So many questions needed answers. Pinkie Pie was the last to make it outside, bouncing cheerfully as if nothing happened.

“So, did I get him?” she asked.

“Oh, you got him, darling,” Rarity replied.

Twilight felt glad that Pinkie Pie was able to stop him at the last second. She was about to ask her how she knew he was coming and which door he would open, but then she remembered that little alarm system that she had. She approached her anyways.

“Pinkie sense?” she asked.

“Pinkie sense,” Pinkie confirmed.

“Just what in the hay was that about?” wondered Applejack.

“I have no idea. For some reason he wanted to know where my crown was,” she replied.

“You mean that thing you hardly wear anymore?” asked Rainbow.

“Yep. Right now, I think we should focus on taking care of this stallion. Let’s get him to the Ponyville county jail,” she ordered.

“On it!” replied Rainbow.

Twilight just looked down at the unconscious stallion as many ponies began to circle the scene, muttering and whispering to each other in confusion. While that was going on, the pony that was watching him glared down at the sight. The lone observer witnessed everything from a distance. Many feet away, standing on the roof of a house, was a Pegasus mare. Her golden coat shone in the sun while her crimson mane and tail flowed in the wind, both having a white streak in them. She had wraps around all four hooves and a pair of aviator goggles stood on her head. She was also wearing a teal scarf that was blowing elegantly in the wind.

She had seen everything and looked down at the defeated stallion in disappointment. She shook her head and placed a hoof on her face, she couldn’t believe what she had just saw. She just felt glad that she wasn’t as stupid as that stallion.

Was that really all you had? How pathetic. You don’t go barging into another pony’s house without a plan, you dumb-flank. Especially if that somepony is the Princess of Friendship. She thought to herself.  Is there no pony here with common sense? I’m just glad I’m not in your hooves.

With that, she spread her wings and took off, unable to contain the stupidity of the stallions attempt to take Twilight Sparkle’s crown.

A Few Weeks Later, Earth

The sun shone brightly over North Tree High School. It was nothing out of the ordinary, just a nice peaceful school with nice peaceful students. Human students, that is. There were multiple school buildings for classes, a huge cafeteria, and a decent library for students to study in. In the cafeteria, there were two boys sitting at a table in the far left corner of the cafeteria, it was near a window that revealed a nice, grassy field outside. They were both about sixteen and in their sophomore year.

One of the boys had short light brown hair and wore a blue and golden hoodie with grey shorts, he was laughing like a hyena while his friend who sat across from him glared at him. His friend had two-toned, messy orange hair and sported a blue grey jacket with navy blue jeans. He was also holding a Nintendo 3ds in his hands and had his game on pause while he was waiting for his friend to stop his laughing fit. His eyebrow twitched as he was starting to get really annoyed with his friend’s reaction.

“Bwahahahahaha!”

“What? What’s so funny, Kyle?” questioned the orange-haired boy.

“Please tell me you’re joking,” chuckled Kyle as he was gasping for air.

“No, I’m not joking. That’s what really happened!” This made Kyle laugh even more.

“I can’t believe you did that. That’s a riot!”

“What? It was my first time and I didn’t want to screw it up. What’s wrong with that?”

Dude, c’mon, you can’t take a girl to ‘nostalgia club’ on the first date. What did you two do? Watch Ed Edd n Eddy together?” he laughed.

“Shut up, it was my first time asking a girl out, don’t judge me. And Ed Edd n Eddy was the shit back then and it is now! Given today’s cartoons that is,” the friend retorted.

“I guess it’s not all that bad. At least you didn’t ask to touch her hair or anything.”

“Well,” he paused.

Kyle soon noticed the blush forming on his friends face. Once his face was completely red, Kyle couldn’t hold it in any longer. All the air in his lips escaped and burst out laughing once more. This made his friend’s face grow even redder.

“Holy crap, Will! You did not ask her that, did you?” he laughed.

“M-maybe,” Will stuttered. “I only asked if I could stroke it.”

“Dude, do you not realize how creepy that sounds?” he laughed.

“I said shut it! I was just curious. Besides, she knew I meant no harm.” This caused Kyle to raise an eyebrow at him. “She did!”

“I bet she thinks you’re all kinds of adorable,” Kyle teased.

“What do you expect from me? I’m not a romantic. Besides, it was your idea for me to even find a girlfriend.”

“Yeah, because all you do all the time is listen to music and play video games. You are all kinds of bland, my friend,” Kyle ridiculed.

“Thanks for bluntly pointing out the obvious, dick,” Will replied deadpanned.

“Hey, that’s what friends are for,” he smiled. “Anyway, if you don’t find some love in your life, you’ll end up a lonely old man who will never feel the warmth of a woman’s embrace.”

“Like you know the feeling,” Will retorted.

“I do! I’ve got all kinds of lady friends waiting in line to get some of this,” he said waving at himself.

“Oh really? Like who?”

“Well, there’s uh,” Kyle hesitated.

“You don’t have a name do you?”

“I’m thinking, give me a minute!”

“And you’re calling me the bland one?” Will laughed.

“Shut up! I’m still so young, I’ve got time to find my soulmate,” Kyle reasoned.

“Yeah, I’m sure you do,” chuckled Will as he returned to his game.

“You know you can mock me all you want, but just remember you’re the one who asked out Becca Grant to a nostalgia club meeting and offered to stroke her hair.” Will just groaned in frustration and regret.

After that, the day went pretty fast for the two boys. Will had a math class while Kyle attended American history. The final bell rang and all the students were making their way out of the school and back to their homes. The two boys walked down the hallway and took notice of all the typical things they would see in any other high school. They walked by band members putting away their trumpets and trombones, a couple of girls trading make up and even new tampons, and that one kid who always walked around in crutches because of an injury.

“Ok let’s see, band members talking about when to meet for rehearsal?” started Will.

“Check!” replied Kyle.

“Girls preparing for their upcoming future in the real world?”

“Check!”

“Friendly injured kid?”

“Hey guys!” greeted said student.

“Hey Charlie!” they both replied.

“Get well soon!” called out Kyle.

“Thanks!” Kyle turned back to Will.

“Check!”

“Cool. All that’s left are two meatheads beating each other up for no reason, and we’re good to go.”

As if on cue, two muscular seniors popped out of nowhere and started slamming each other into the lockers. One kid grabbed the other by the hair and started to kick him in the stomach. The other got out of his grasp and put his attacker in a choke hold, wrapping his beefy bicep around the guy’s neck until it turned purple. It wasn’t long before two teachers stepped in to break them up.

“Check,” confirmed Kyle.

“Great, we’re all set then,” joked Will.

“Thank god it’s Friday.”

With that, the two boys exited the hallway and started to make their way towards home. They both walked out of the school and walked along the sidewalk. They didn’t need to take the bus or wait for a ride because their homes were only a fifteen minute walk away. Will had his earbuds listening to some cool music while Kyle kicked an empty can as he walked.

They turned the corner and took notice of the rough neighborhood they had to walk through in order to get home. There were two apartment buildings across each street and shops everywhere. There were kids playing baseball in the street and business men strolling by.

Will couldn’t care less about his surroundings or the people walking by, the world he was in was grey anyway, all he heard was the cool music that was flowing through his ears and around his mind. He had no idea what his life was going to be like, he didn’t know which college to enroll in and didn’t know what kind of career to take. He didn’t care, he just wanted to enjoy what youth he had left before entering the real world. That's what someone important to him would've wanted. He looked around and noticed all kinds of commotion happening, cops harassing people at their doorsteps, some kids throwing rocks at already broken windows, and even a guy swerving his car around like he was drunk. Will cringed a little at what he was looking at.

“This place doesn’t look good,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, let’s just take the long way back,” suggested Kyle.

“No, we’re almost at the corner. We’ll be home faster if we stick to our normal path and just ignore everything,” insisted Will.

“Yeah right, you just want to go down this road because we always pass that fancy wall that’s on the way,” Kyle chuckled.

“It beats taking the longer way home.”

They both turned around the corner and walked down another street. Pretty soon, they reached the t intersection where the street split into two. Between the two splitting streets, sprayed across the wall, was a graffiti mural. Once Will caught sight of the mural, he picked up speed and ran towards it with Kyle following suit.

They both stopped at the end and looked at the masterpiece. Will always like this mural, because it was one of the only colorful things in his neighborhood. After a long day of school, he would always stop by this mural and could gaze at it for hours. The neon colors were so bright vivid, it was abstract yet it wasn’t at the same time, and there were shapes mixed in with actual objects.  The mural had green and blue triangles with swirl road of pink, yellow, and purple. There was a puppet drawn on the wall with a wolf’s head and angel wings spread out, it didn’t make much sense but Will liked the design anyway. The puppet was also holding a pair of scissors and had just cut off the strings that were controlling it.

There were even some words written next to the wolf-head angel that spoke, “My Life, My Rules!” A small smile formed on Will’s face, he enjoyed gazing at the graffiti mural. He didn’t care if it was technically illegal, he could gawk at it for hours and feel inspired to do anything. Kyle just tilted his head at the strange art piece.

“I don’t get it, why do you like looking at this thing so much?” he asked.

“I keep telling you, It just looks cool. The art is so surreal. There’s nothing else to it,” Will replied.

“C’mon, there has to be a better reason than just ‘I like it.'"

“Well that’s how I feel. I like the colors and I like the message it’s trying to give.”

“If you like it so much, why don’t you create your own?” suggested Kyle.

“My own street art? Trust me, I would. But I don’t have time to get arrested for something that shouldn’t even be considered a crime,” Will reasoned.

Really?”

“Besides, just observing amazing street art is enough for me,” Will mused.

“You are so weird, you know that?”

“Yeah well, we’re all weird, man. We’re all weird.”

After Will was done gazing at the mural, they both decided to head home. Will made it to his small home while Kyle had to walk three more blocks to reach his home. Will stopped at the first steps to his home while Kyle continued on.

“Well, I’ll see you later dude,” Kyle said.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow. Say hi to Jill for me!” Will called out.

“Will do, Will. Catch ya later, weirdo!” Kyle teased as he walked further and further away. With that, Will walked up the steps and entered his home.

“I’m home!” he announced.

He went to his room and threw his bag against the wall and plopped on his bed, thankful that the day was finally over. He turned up his music and brought out his 3ds. He opened it up and began to play Super Smash Bros. until dinner time. The sun quickly set and the street lights began to light up. Will was still playing his game when it finally became dark outside. He heard his door open suddenly.

“Will! Dinner!” yelled his little brother.

“Alright Max, you don’t have to shout!”

His orange haired little brother ran out of his room, chuckling. Will turned off his game and exited his room. He sat down at the dinner table where his mom had prepared his and his brother’s dinner, tri-tip and mashed potatoes.

“Will, take those earbuds out,” ordered his mom.

Will took out his earbuds and picked up a fork and knife, about to dig in.

“Also,” his mother paused. She brought out another plate with food on it. Seeing how there was only three of them at the table, Will knew what this meant.

“Could you take this plate to your brother?” she asked, almost choking.

“Yeah, sure.”

Will took the plate started to walk towards another room. He reached the last door at the end of the hall. He slowly opened the door and entered the most important room in the house, his older brother’s room.

The bed was nice and made and the carpet was just cleaned. Will could always feel his eyes getting heavy whenever he entered his brothers room. There, in the middle of the room, was his brother’s shrine. His brother’s portrait stood in the middle, he was wearing a baseball uniform from his senior year in high school, and his spiky orange hair could be recognized by anyone. Will couldn’t help but chuckle at his older brother’s dorky smile. He placed the dinner plate in front of the portrait and slowly backed away.

“Dinner’s ready, Devin,” Will said.

He still couldn’t believe what happened on that day. It was bad enough that his brother was gone, but now his fiancé will never get the wedding and life they’ve always dreamed of. Will missed him especially, he could still hear his voice sometimes.

You’re trying out for baseball? Devin’s voice asked.

Yeah. That way we could always be a part of the same team! In or out of the house, Will’s past voice replied.

Do you even know how to play baseball?

Well I…

Do you even like baseball?

Of course I do! He could hear Devin’s voice chuckling.

Will, you don’t have to join the team just to impress me.

Really? What am I supposed to do then? Will wondered.

I don’t know. It’s your life, Will, only you can decide what to do with it.

“Yeah,” Will said to himself. “I still haven’t figured that out yet. But I’ll know what I want. Someday.”

“Will, your food is getting cold!” called out his mom.

“Ok, coming!”

Will got up and began to exit Devin’s room, slowly closing the door behind him, leaving the food inside. After dinner, Will and his family decided to play a game of Sorry! before Max had to go to bed. Will would always laugh at his little brother’s reaction whenever one of his pieces would get out.

“Gah! No fair!” he yelled. Both Will and his mother laughed.

The game went by rather quickly with their mom being the winner, both boys groaned as their mother gloated in victory.

“Hahaha! I won! Sorry, not sorry!” she gloated.

“That’s mean!" Whined Max

“Yeah!”

After a few more laughs, everybody decided it would be best to go to sleep. Will’s room was dark and his window was open so that some air could get through. As he laid there with his music filling his head with various thoughts, he began to really think about what he really wants in life.

“What do I want to do in life? Should I become a street artist?” he asked himself. “I’ll figure it out later.”

Will covered himself with his comforter as he let the music take him into a deep sleep. As he was sleeping, he couldn’t help but feel a certain warmth to his body. It wasn’t just warm from his comforter, it was a different kind of warm. It was warmer than he could ever imagine. He suddenly felt heavy. He felt heavier than a giant bulldozer. Ok, maybe not that much, but he still felt like something was not right. Pretty soon, he could feel himself plummeting. Falling like a rock or a bird trying to learn how to fly.

He just assumed this was all a dream and that it will be over quick. He never opened his eyes once as he continued to feel the strange sensation. Either gravity was trying to pull a dirty trick on him, this was really random dream, or something else was wrong. He could feel himself landing on the cold hard ground with a loud thump! The impact made him twitch violently, but it wasn’t enough to wake him up. He laid there motionless, all assuming that he just went through a very strange falling simulation in his sleep.