Its a funny thing, life. No matter what you do you can’t predict what going to happen. Take me for example. I was Noah Williams, a young firefighter. Its a fantastic job, I always wanted to be a Firefighter all my life, and I’ve been doing it for the past two years. I made money, good money, enough to move out of the house, and live in a decent apartment complex in Los Angeles, with pleasant neighbors and a quiet atmosphere.

It was a hot night in Griffith Park . I always like to walk around when I was upset about something. This something was a bad day at the station, where my Captain railed me about putting the right pressure on the hoses, It was a bunch of mathematical garbage, but it was enough to get me in a sour mood.

I was ready to turn back and head for my apartment, when the sky became unusually cloudy. The winds were picking up, enough for me to struggle to keep my footing. Thunder and lightning flashed through the sky, I was scared. Above me, the sky opened, like it was a portal to another dimension. My mouth was agape, this is the kind of thing one would see in movies or comic books, but there I was, standing underneath a portal to some kind of alternate universe.

I ran for my life and it the deck by a nearby park bench. Knowing this form almost every comic book, movie, and kids cartoon I’ve seen. I wasn’t taking any risk in risking my life, six dark figures fell out of the portal.

“Ouch! What in the hay just happened?!” one said. The voice was definitely female, with a strong, yet comprehensible southern accent.

“I’m sorry!” another said. “That spell was stronger than I thought!”

“Well, now look what you did, darling! You transported us to Los Pegasus!”

“Los Pegasus ? What the…?” I thought.

One of the figures looked at my direction and noted the others of my presents. “Um girls I think were being watched?” the figure point at the bench I was hiding behind, now caught I got up from my position and slowly walked over to t hem.

Further inspection of the figures they looked like full cartoon characters form a girly kid show just to sell toys. “Your colorful talking horses?” I said, with wide eyes and my mouth open.

The purple one looked at me like she was examining me, I notice that there was a very long pause so I decided too break the silence.

“So we should start with names, hi I’m Noah and ya are?”

The lavender one went first. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” The only thought that raced through my head was those godawful books. It took my all not to bring it up to her. Seriously, it was bad enough hearing Twilight, but Sparkle? As in Sparkling Vampires? I bet if anyone else heard that name, they would think of the exact same thing. I couldn’t have been alone in this.

The rest were less troubling. The pink one called herself Pinkie Pie, the southern one was called Applejack, the white one Rarity, the rainbow haired one Rainbow Dash, and finally….

“I’m Fluttershy...” said the yellow one.

My reaction was as expected. “What?”

She replied again, but when it got to her name, she still trailed off. Only after a bit, did Twilight tell me her full name. Fluttershy. Somehow, it fit well. I couldn’t imagine the reason why.

“I live in an apartment just a couple blocks from here. You…” I paused, I sighed before continuing my request. “You can stay with me if you like.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight said. Since she talked the most, I was certain that she was the leader of the group.

“Yeah, it’s fine. There’s plenty of room, and it’s nice and warm.”

On our way to my apartment wasn’t all that eventful. Being so late at night, the amount of civilians in my neighborhood was slim.

I walked into the lobby, making the ponies wait outside. I didn’t want to give the man at the front desk a heart attack just yet.

“Hello, Mr. Williams!” He said. It may have been a middle class apartment, but this guy treated his tenants like high class superstars.

“Hey Jay. I have a question; do you still allow pets in here?”

“Of course! As long as they are quiet, there won’t be any problems.”

“Okay. Just letting you know, they aren’t normal pets. So…don’t freak out.”

“Why? Are they tigers or something?” he joked.

I called the girls in. Jay’s mouth opens wide as the six of them were revealed to him. They all greeted him with a great deal of proper etiquette and respectfulness.

“Is that…”

“Yes, they’re colorful talking ponies.”

“That’s….”

“I know. Crazy right? They’re only going to be here for a little bit, but….Jay?” He was not paying attention to me in the slightest. I pointed his direction back to me.

“Jay, I need you to listen.” I said sternly, “Under no circumstances, do you tell ANYONE about this, okay?”

“No offense Mr. Williams, but that’s going to be hard to hide.”

He had a point. What if they wanted to go outside? I couldn’t just leave them shacked up for however long. “Just…for the time being. Okay?” I replied. Jay looked at me, and then back at the still smiling ponies, then back at me. He nodded in compliance.

I walked to the elevator, where all six were waiting. I realized that the elevator wouldn’t move when I was inside, weight limit and all. So, I took the stairs up.

When I got to the sixth floor, the ponies were freaking out about the elevator. They told me that elevators were a rarity where they came from. Only the big cities of their world had elevators, while their small town was more inclined to use stairs.

The moment I unlocked the door to my apartment, the ponies came rushing in, pushing past me to get inside. They reveled in the warmness that it was producing. Most laid down on the couches, Pinkie Pie ran into my room, and started jumping on the bed excitedly, and Twilight started searching through my shelf full of books.

“Hey!” I said. They all looked at me simultaneously. Second time they did that, and I don’t think I would ever get sick of it. “It’s really late. We can’t have any noise at this time, okay? I have plenty of blankets if anyone wants some, there’s a shower in the bathroom, and some food in the fridge. Are there any questions?”

After questions were done, I went straight to getting ready for bed. After giving my new house guests some blankets, and getting Pinkie Pie off my bed, of course. I watched them all gather in my living room, circling around to find a comfortable spot, and fall right to sleep. With the craziness of the night behind me, I also went to bed, and dozed off rather quickly.

Morning came, and it was Tuesday. I was extra quiet, so I wouldn’t wake up the others. I took my shower, brushed my teeth, and had a small breakfast. There were a few fresh apples in the fridge, so I took one on my way out the door.

The elevator doors open, and I nearly jump back in shock to see Pinkie Pie on the other side, looking at me with a wide smile.

“Hi!” she said cheerfully.

“AH!” I yelped, “Pinkie! How did you get down here so fast?!”

“The stairs, silly!” she said, “I got here well before you did!”

The average time in the elevator without any extra stops was about 15 seconds. I timed myself once when using the stairs, and it would take just a little over a minute to get down to the lobby. How the heck did she get down there well before I did, and without tripping herself too? I shook my head, as there was no time to question the logic breaking activities of this creature.

“What are you doing down here, anyway?” I asked, “You should be asleep with the others?"

“I could ask you the same thing, Mr. Early Bird!”

“I have to go to work. I was going to leave a message when I got there….”

“Ooooh! Work? As in a job?” She said curiously. “What do you do? Is it hard? Can I come with?”

“No Pinkie, I want you to stay here with the others, and If I wanted to I work with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, its very dangerus!”

Pinkie understood and she went back up the stairs, still in a happy mood.

Getting to my truck, a 1996 GMC Sierra 1500, opening the diver door and hopping in, I turned the ignition and exit out of my apartment’s parking lot.

It takes at most 40 minuets to get to work with out any red lights, but anyways on my way to work was normal,

Station 127 is the most active station in the county, and fun fact is that this station was in a tv show in the 70’s called Emergency, it was about two paramedics, Jonny Gage and Roy Disoto, played by Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe.

Anyways, parking in the back parking lot and heading in, I went to the locker room to change into my uniform.

I was met by my best friend and our station engineer Matt, Matt was a nice guy, was good with the lady’s, and was good at videogames.

“hey Noah, did you see Sunday’s night’s Nascar race?” he asked, opening his locker and taking off his shoes off.

“No, I was at station 8 helping them out, but I have it recorded on my tv at apartment.”

“Man I still can’t believe that Dale Jr is retiring, Nascar won’t be the same.” matt said, as we were going into the kitchen.

“Yea I heard about his retirement!” Hank said, our station captain, as he put down the morning paper.

“Who’s retirement?” Stan asked, one of our paramedics.

“Dale Jr, the diver of the 88 car.” Matt told stan what were talking about.

“How can ya watch that stuff, I mean its a bunch of rednecks diving in a circle! 200 times!” stan said.

“HEY Nascar is beater than Most sports today!” Matt self defense in his argument.

Just then the Tones came on, "Station 127, Station 8, Engine 14 and Battalion 14, structure fire. 118 Clear Spring Rd. Cross street Beckerman, time out 11:01!"

We all stopped what we where going and got up to go to the Engine bay.

Me, Matt ,Hank, and another one of are firefighters jack got into the Engine, while Stan and our other paramedic Mark. Had got into the squad.

Squad had pulled out first then we followed in suit.

We arrived on scene I just before anyone else, put my SCBA on, “You ready to go inside?!” Jack asked excitedly.

“Yeah, let’s do this!” I said looking up at him.

He was unnaturally tall…

Jack frantically waved his arm at Matt, who I saw nod. Within a minute, the line was charged, and almost threw us to the ground. Luckily the front door was already opened, and black smoke was rolling out of it.

Turning on our lights, I took the lead and ran in. I could hear the fire. The roar and crackling of it. Not even a few feet in, I could already feel the heat through my PPE. Getting low, we slowly made our way in.

"Station 8, is there anyone in here?!” I called out, which Jack mimicked, from time to time.

Moving farther in, there were no signs of fire only heavy smoke. Jack was on his radio, talking to anyone outside. I kept calling out, and asking Jack questions. Luckily the only people home at the time were the homeowners, the wife and husband. And all pets had left the house already.

“Jack, I don’t see any fucking fire!” I yelled back to him as we kept trudging on.

“Just keep going, trust me.” Jack replied.

I was going to berate him with questions. But I stopped myself, I’ve got to trust my partner. Moving on into another room, which was fairly larger, I could feel it. Slowly I looked around and above us. Through a doorway ahead of me, fire started licking the ceiling.

“Jack!” I yelled, getting his attention.

“Told ya!” He said in a cocky tone.

I let the line rip, opening it to full blast. I snuffed out the flames quickly. Getting into a kneeling position, I started traversing forward.

“Damn, dude, I can’t see shit!” I told Jack.

“Oh you son of bi-gimme that!” I yelled at Jack. He was holding a TIC the entire time.

Following the Thermal Imaging screen, I maneuvered through the room. Into another one full of orange flames. Pulling the handle back on the nozzle, I released a fury of water on the flames. Quickly extinguishing them.

The fire seemed to be going out fairly easily, with little to no fight.

Grabbing the TIC, I scanned the room. The ceiling was still a major hotspot, and the roaring inferno could still be heard above us. I could hear saws outside cutting ventilation holes, and a ‘woosh’, as if someone just dumped gas on the fire.

The whole house shook, as the second floor exploded above us.

Jack and I were knocked back into a room, waiting for everything to come down on top of us. Though any falling debris, was little pieces of sheet-rock. Pulling myself up, I kept myself over Jack and scanned around with the camera.

After putting the fire out we headed back to the station.

When we got back to the Station. We just hang back till we got another call.

After my shift ended, I headed back to my apartment and when I got inside the lobby and up to my floor. I walked in my apartment and find the ponies making salads, cake, and other kinds off stuff.

Twilight notice me coming in. “Oh Noah your back, Pinkie Pie told us that you went to Work, and we hope you don’t mind us using some ingredients form your kitchen?”

“I don’t mind not like I was going to make anything with them, hey ya don’t mind if I turn on the Tv?” I ask the girls.

The ponies looked at me confused looks, “What the hey is a Tv?” Applejack asked.

“A Tv is a box that show moving pictures.” I turn on the Tv to show the girls what I’m talking about.

“In other news, There has been another robery o....” I change the chanel to a diffrent chanel.

I flipped to about 15 diffrent channels

Finally stopping flipping channels My cellphone blared a catchy tune, scaring everypony in the room.

"AHH! Run for it!" Fluttershy ducked under the table.

"Relax, it's just my phone." I say. I look at the caller ID, sighing at who it is. "Great." I answer, "Hey guys."

"What the hell is going on over there?!" It's my Dad, and he's none too happy.

"What do you mean, Dad?"

"You're all over the news, with some kind of colorful horses!"

"Really?" I turn to the news, and sure enough, the old man was right. I see myself With the girls in Griffith Park. "That's really cool."

"No, it's not cool! Your mother is worried sick, and neighbors are coming to our door, asking if you had any psychological problems!"

"Well, that's just none of their business, wouldn't you say?" I chuckle.

"Dammit, Noah! This is serious, How many of those things are you hiding?!"

"Six."

"SIX?!" I can hear him nearly going into shock. "You have six of those things in your apartment?!"

"They're ponies, Dad. Talking animated ponies from another dimension. They aren't things. Also its complicated how they got here, It's only going to be for a little while, okay?"

He sighs angrily into the phone. Some part of me just knows he's rubbing his eyelids in frustration. I don't blame him. Who else could say they have a son that is harboring six ponies in his apartment? I'm actually amazed he managed to pull himself together after I said such a ridiculous thing.

"I'm...I mean we are just concerned, son. Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"No, Dad. I'm not running with some kind of gang, or have a police record. You just have to trust me on this, okay? You're not going to tell anyone where I live, are you?"

"No, of course not."

"Okay, then."

"Just...be careful. Okay?"

"I will, Dad. Tell Mom not to worry, that I love her, and that I will see her soon."

"Okay. I love you, son."

"Love you too, Dad."

I hang up the phone. I see all the ponies looking at me, wondering what was going on at the other end of the conversation. I smile, and got up from the couch and sat in one of my table's chairs.

“So, what did you guys make?” I asked.

Twilight made salads, Pinkie made cup cakes, Applejack made an apple pie. No surprise there, and rainbow dash made some kind of drink.

We sit down and ate for at least for about an hour.

“Oh!” Twilight remembered, “I almost forgot to tell you all…I finally have enough power to make the portal again!”

“Thank goodness!” Fluttershy said, “I was getting worried. Poor Angel might be starving, right now.”

“When are we going to try it?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Tonight…if Noah wants me too.”

They looked at me. A part of me wanted to say no, and have them stay one more night. I didn’t prepare a goodbye or anything. However, the way she looked at me, she seemed determined to try it as soon as possible. I sighed to myself.

“Sure.” I said. Neither one of them caught on the air of disappointment in my voice. Instead, they cheered happily at the chance to go back home.

To celebrate for them, I corked open a bottle of wine, and poured a glass for each pony. They mentioned that they dabbled in wine every once in a while, so I figured it couldn’t have hurt. They tasted the wine carefully, it was white wine, and the flavor was unfamiliar to them. They said that they mainly drink dandelion wine, which I never tasted…or even heard of for that matter, but they thought the taste was fine nevertheless.

“To new beginnings.” I said, raising my glass to the ceiling. I looked over at them, realizing that they cannot do the same. After a brief chuckle, I tapped each of their glasses.

“To new beginnings!” they all yelled simultaneously.

Midnight approached, and we were all back in Griffith Park. twenty eight hours earlier, I took in these six ponies, now I was saying goodbye to them. I’d be lying if I told you that I wasn’t going to miss them when they were gone. I did a pretty alright job at hiding my true feelings, but I think that they were aware of them just by looking at me.

“Well…I guess this is it…” I said, “Are you sure this is going to work?”

“Positive.” Twilight replied, “I thought about it hard, and I believe that we will be back in our own dimension.”

“I only ask, because you seemed hesitant yesterday.”

“I’m being positive. Just like you.” she smirked.

“Think there might be a chance that you’ll make your way into this dimension again, any time soon?” “I wondered.

“Who knows? Probably.”

She looked back at the clear area ahead of her. She concentrated hard, as her horn glowed a bright brilliant purple hue. Soon, the portal appeared right in front of us. It was less aggressive than it was yesterday; I figured Twilight had a better handle on it now. She looked back at me with a smile.

“Good luck.” she said.

“Same to you.”

She was the first to go through. The others followed suit, each with their own look to me, and a different kind of goodbye. Pinkie gave me a nice tight hug, while Applejack gave me one of her freshly baked pies. As the last of them went through the portal, I thought about my future, and what I was going to do next. I thought about taking up writing again, I turned to leave when…

SMACK!

I hit a low hanging tree branch. I stumbled backwards…holding my head in pain…and fell right into the portal.

Whoops. Didn’t see that coming.

Author's Note

thank you guys for reading my story and let me know how you thought of it. and I know that station 127 doesn't have squad any more but I liked Emergency so much.