Hello everyone! Welcome to the first chapter of A Sign of Things to Come. Before the chapter starts, I wanted to give a quick shout to 0-Blazing Sun-0 and their story "A Second Chance" on Fanfiction for giving me some slight inspiration for this story. Without it, this story probably wouldn't exist. I would highly suggest you go read it if you haven't already.
This is my first My Little Pony Fanfiction, so don't be surprised if characters from the show are a little out of character. This is my first time really making a story not really completely based off the source material too much, so go easy on me.
Also, if there is anyone out there who can and likes to draw, I would really like a piece of cover art made for this story if at all possible. If you fit this description and wouldn't mind taking time out of your day to help me make one, PM me, or contact me at mitchinator9000 and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Anyway, on to the chapter!
Story Key: Italics = Thoughts. Bold = Reading. Bold italics = Vision. Underlined Italics = Memories.
Darren's Point of View
Walker Residence
Thursday 17th May – 7:15AM
I immediately awaken from a deep sleep, hot sweat dripping down my face and neck, on the verge of hyperventilating. I sat up rigidly on my hands, staring into the darkness surrounding my bedroom, only seeing blurry shapes without my glasses. I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart down to a normal rate.
My name is Darren Walker. I'm a 33-year-old man and I live a fairly normal life with a beautiful and loving wife and two amazing kids. I also have a well-paying and fun job as a landscape gardener and a house just perfect for the four of us. Life couldn't be better for our little family. There was just one problem with it though.
Most nights when I go to sleep, I would have these really weird dreams. But not just any weird dreams, dreams that actually show what will happen in the near future. I call them "visions" rather than dreams nowadays. I haven't had a proper dream in 15 years, having had these visions ever since I was 18. These visions have helped me change the natural course of events for the better, and sometimes worse, but mostly better. Tonight, was no different.
The vision had started normally, as it usually does, with me sitting at home watching a TV show with my kids. They eventually went upstairs to play after it was over. As I was about to watch something I would enjoy, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small white light. As I turned to look at it in more detail, it suddenly lit up, blinding me. After the room wasn't a white blur anymore, I looked back at where the light used to be to see something completely impossible.
Standing before me was a small purple horse with a horn protruding from its head, and wings extending out from its back. It also had a purple mane and tail, darker than its fur, with two streaks of pink and a slightly lighter shade of purple going down the middle, and large purple eyes. It also had this weird star-shaped symbol on both sides of its lower back, almost like a tattoo of sorts.
It then suddenly started talking! It tried to explain why it was here but I had officially declared myself insane. The horse tried to calm me down, but I was completely unresponsive, saying I must have hit my head and was hallucinating this while I paced around the room. It tried to convince me that I wasn't seeing things and wrapped its hooves around my legs to stop me from moving, but that didn't deter me at all; I shook it off with ease.
I stopped pacing and slumped down on one of the sofas looking at the horse briefly, before putting my head in my hands with a moan, having hoped that it had disappeared, the equine trying to get an answer out of me all the while.
"Fine. I didn't want to have to do this, but you've left me no choice. You've forced my hoof. We're going to have to do this the hard way." It said to me. I didn't pay the comment any more mind than anything else it had said. A minute or so later, I looked at where the horse was sitting to see it had its eyes closed and its horn lit up. I was confused about what it was doing until the room around me was covered in the same bright that had blinded me only moments ago until it was the only thing I could see. I then suddenly blacked out.
The next thing I knew, I feel myself slowly waking up with no energy whatsoever. I couldn't even open my eyes. I could, however, hear voices talking around me, but in my weakened state, they sounded like they were miles away, as opposed to right next to me, and I felt I was also laying on a soft surface; so soft in fact that I could just curl up and fall asleep. As my energy started to return to me, I started to be able to make out the voices as being two females and a male.
I groaned as I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly as the harsh light assaulted my eyes. My vision started to clear and what I saw made me yell out in surprise, sit upright and shuffle back against the wall behind me. Right in front of my face was the same horse from before, accompanied by another horse, this time a unicorn with a pink coat, a purple mane with a light teal stripe down the middle, hanging slightly over its left eye and flowing down its neck and large purple eyes. It also had a weird tattoo on its lower back like the other horse, but it was instead a small purple and white star with two light blue streams.
The third thing that stood in front of me was probably what surprised me the most. It was a purple reptile with green spines running from its head down to its arrowhead ended tail, and large green eyes. I also looked around the room I had ended up in. It was a bedroom, which would explain the soft surface I was sitting on, with purple crystal walls, which was fully furnished. It was really nothing more than your average bedroom. There was a window to my left that overlooked a quaint little town that seemed to be full of other equines, which scared me even more.
I was just about to ask what the actual Hell was going on, what I suddenly woke up in the state I was in now.
I have had these dreams for years. I had gotten quite used to them by now, but they had never been this... absurd. Could this really be another one of my visions, or did I finally have my first dream in years? No, that wouldn't make any sense. This had to be a vision! I quickly grabbed my thin-rimmed oval glasses from off my bedside table and slipped them on my nose so I could fully see my surroundings.
As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I could just about see the outlines of the furniture in the darkness of our bedroom. The blackout curtains were drawn, blocking most of the early morning light from entering our room. The king size bed's duvet wriggled as my wife next to me tossed and turned in her sleep.
"What just happened?" I whispered to myself, wiping the sweat from my brow as I sat up in the bed properly and recalled the vision.
Suddenly, the body beside me stretched and yawned. "What was that, love?" My wife, Dani, asked drowsily.
"I-It's nothing, hun... No need to worry..." I replied, looking at her through the darkness.
"Are you sure? You look like you've seen a ghost or something. Did you have another one of your visions?" She questioned concerned. I had told her about my visions near the beginning of our relationship. There was no way I was going to be able to keep that a secret, especially if I was going to be spending the rest of my life with her.
"Yes, I did, but it's fine. Really." I reassured her, stroking her cheek lightly, feeling her shiver faintly at the touch. There was no way I was going to tell her about this though. She would never believe me.
"If you say so." She said doubtfully, lifting the covers off of her body, getting out of bed and drawing back the curtains. I groaned as the light of the morning sun shone sharply, shielding my eyes from the onslaught. "I better get ready for another day of accounting, and you better get ready to take the kids to school."
I glanced over at the ticking clock. 7:15AM. 15 minutes before our children, Harrison and Scarlet were supposed to be up and getting ready for school. It was my day off today, meaning I was in charge of the kids and the house while my wife went to work at her accounting firm. I looked back at my 35-year-old wife; I could now see her gorgeous face, her sparkling blue eyes, her luscious blonde locks of hair, her slender figure that was lightly covered by her nightgown. I am so lucky to have been married to her for 8 years now.
"Aww, do I have to? I was hoping I could get a lie-in for once in my adult life." I moaned with a pout.
"Well, you should have thought of that before you said yes to the idea of having kids." She said cheekily, a smirk plastered on her face. I audibly groaned and pulled the duvet over my head playfully, trying to block out as much light as possible.
"Come on, mister. You can't live under there forever." I could hear her footsteps moving over to my side of the bed and felt a tugging of the covers as she tried to pull it off of my body.
"You can't make me! You'll never take me alive!" I jokingly shouted, hugging the blanket tight to my chest so she couldn't pull it out from under me.
As we wrestled for control of the duvet, a smile grew on my face as I conjured up a wicked idea. As she tried to rip the covers away from me, I strongly yanked on them, hearing her gasp as I saw a shadow flip over me and onto the other side of the bed with a loud thump. With the momentum of the motion, I rolled on top of my wife, making sure my legs were either side of her as to not hurt her, taking the duvet with me.
The covers slipped off of my body onto the floor, revealing what I thought would be quite the sight to any unknowing onlookers. Dani was now on her back on the mattress, head on the pillow, hair matted, out of breath with a stunned expression on her face. I was on top of her in only my blue boxers, holding her down lightly, smile engraved on my lips, breathing heavily. We started laughing at the situation we had ended up in.
After a couple of minutes of chuckling to ourselves, in the heat of the moment, I couldn't help but kiss her passionately on the lips. She stared at me for a second before melting into my arms, hastily kissing me back with as much ferocity. We were lip-locked for almost a minute, moaning quietly and just enjoying each other's embrace. We eventually broke the kiss, even more out of breath than we were before.
"That... was..." She started saying between breaths.
"...Intense?" I finished with a laugh, out of breath myself.
"Yeah... That's a good... description..." She agreed with a nod. We laid there in silence for a minute, subconsciously tightening our grip around each other as we caught our breath. "As much as I would love to stay in bed with you today, I really have to start getting ready for work. I can't be late today." My wife broke the silence, stroking my cheek softly.
"Ok, fine. I'll let you go. As long as you promise me that we'll continue this later." I said, giving her a look and a wink that told her my intentions. I could feel her shiver slightly at the implication.
"Of course! I promise." She replied, giving me another small kiss on my lips before I rolled back onto my side of the bed as she stood and headed for the door. "You better start getting up too. Those kids won't get themselves up, you know?" She added with a smile before opening the door and exiting the bedroom, heading for the bathroom.
Now that she had left, I slowly sprawled myself back out on the bed, thinking about what just happened. It went from playfully to sensual really fast, and she was ok with it. I really do have the best wife a man could ask for, and I wouldn't exchange her for the world. That really took my mind off the vision.
Speaking of which, my mind quickly thought back to that strange vision. It made no sense, a magical talking horse coming out from some bright light and supposedly taking me to its world full of other talking equines. I would probably be sent to an insane asylum if anyone found out about it. It would be more so something that would happen in a normal dream. But that wouldn't make sense either, I hadn't had a normal dream in years. Why would I have one now, of all times?
"I need to wake my kids up." I said to myself, looking at the clock to see it was 7:30AM. I quickly swung my hairy legs off the side of the bed and got up, going around to Dani's side to swiftly pick up the duvet that had fallen on the floor in our tussle. I opened the wardrobe and slipped into my dressing gown and exited the bedroom, trying to keep the thought of the vision from plaguing my mind.
We live in a quaint two-story house, with the living room and kitchen on the ground floor and mine and Dani's bedroom, Harrison and Scarlet's room and the bathroom on the first floor. I could hear that Dani was in the shower, based on the fact that I could hear the water hitting the bathtub audibly, as I moved towards the children's room.
I gently opened the door to their room, letting the light spill in and destroy the darkness that lingered. It was a small room with everything a child should need. Toys, games, and piles of clothes littered the floor, a TV stand sat by the far most wall with their TV and games consoles on it.
I should really get them to clean their room when they get back from school today. I thought as I inched my way inside. In front of me was a large bunk bed with the two sleeping kids I was looking for, their chests rising and falling calmly.
They look so innocent when they are asleep. I kind of wish I didn't have to wake them. Both for their and my benefit. I thought again as I reached down to the bottom bunk, which had Harrison in it.
"Harry. It's time to wake up." I said softly, shaking him lightly, disturbing his peaceful sleep.
"Ugh... Five more minutes, Dad..." He groaned, turning away from me.
"Sorry, buddy. You have to get ready for school." I said, ruffling his messy curls of blonde hair. The 7-year-old groaned once again and lifted his pillow over his head in frustration. I chuckled lightly at the action, knowing that no matter what I did he wouldn't get out of bed, so I quickly moved on to waking up Scarlet. I stepped a rung or two up the ladder and smiled at her sleeping form.
"Scarlet. It's time to wake up." I whispered again, doing the same action as I did for Harry. Instead of moaning as he had, she slowly opened her eyes and yawned.
"Morning, Daddy." She groggily said in her squeaky voice, looking at me sweetly with her shining brown eyes. Even though she was 6 years old, she still couldn't help but call me Daddy. It was quite endearing, but I do hope she will grow out of it in the next couple of years.
"Good morning, sweetheart. It's time to get ready for school." I stated.
"I know, Daddy." She said quietly, stretching as she sat up.
"Well, start getting yourself ready." I told her. Then I looked down at her brother, who looked to be falling back asleep. "I'm having a hard time waking your brother up... Again. If he isn't up in the next 5 minutes or so, you know what to do." I pulled a knowing smile as she nodded vigorously.
"You can count on me." She said with a mock salute.
"That's my girl! I need to go get ready for the day. I'll see you soon." I finished, stroking her head full of long brown hair before stepping off of the ladder and heading for the doorway, seeing her follow me down wearing her little pink nightgown and started running around to get ready.
Knowing she could handle herself and her brother, I exited their room, leaving them to it. I could hear that the shower had stopped but the door was still closed, meaning that Dani was still in there. Knowing this, I hastily made my way back into my bedroom and grabbed some clean clothes.
As I left, I passed Dani on her way out of the bathroom and heading into our room. Knowing that Dani was done in the bathroom, for now, I immediately entered and closed the door, breathing heavily as the hot, moist air smacked me in the face, steaming up my glasses slightly.
I took off my dressing gown and boxers, the former being hung up on a hanger on the door and the latter being put in the washing basket in the corner of the room. I turned on the shower, put my glasses in their case so they don't get steamy, and carefully stepped into the added bathtub, letting the warm water soak me thoroughly.
As I washed, I still couldn't get my mind off the vision. It just keeps tormented me, like it is the most important thing in the world right now. There is no way that could possibly happen, right? The visions have never lied to me before, so why would they start now?
I need to stop worrying about it and just wait and see if it comes true. I reasoned in my head as I finished washing my body and hair, turning the shower off and stepping out of the bath.
Grabbing a towel off the rack, I dried myself off, making sure to get every nook and cranny. I threw the towel in the washing basket too, just barely missing because of my bad eyesight without my glasses, and started dressing. My clothes consisted of navy-blue jeans, white summer socks, my favourite green t-shirt with a Trowel and Hand Fork crossing over in the middle printed on it and my favourite black leather jacket.
After being properly suited up and put my glasses back on, I had a quick look at myself in the mirror. Wiping away the condensation that had collected there, I admired the way I look for a second. My twinkling blue eyes stared back at me, looking at my medium length curly brown hair sticking out at all angles. I rubbed my chin, feeling the brown stubble that was slowly growing there. I had never liked having a big, bushy beard, but I didn't like not having a beard either, so did my wife. She would kill me if the beard disappeared. This was a happy medium.
I saw my muscles being defined by my shirt in my reflection and I couldn't help but flex them slightly. After having been a landscape gardener for the last 7 years of my life, you start to gain quite a bit of strength from lifting bags of cement for walls and large planks of wood for fences. Realising that I was being a bit arrogant and my appearance was nice and tidy, I exited the bathroom and started heading downstairs.
As I was going down the stairs, I heard a grunt and a shout of "Ok, Scarlet! I'm up! I'm up!" I glanced into the kid's bedroom to see Scarlet sitting on top of Harry in his bed, him groaning in obvious pain.
She takes so much after her father. She's such a good girl. I thought with a mischievous grin as I went downstairs, creaking with every step.
I moved through the hallway, taking in every little detail to try to get my mind off recent events. I stopped at the end of the corridor, where the back door to the garden was and looked into the room on my right to see the living room. It was quite spacious, with a TV and two sofas pointing at it as you entered with a fireplace in the left corner, a large coffee table in the centre of the room and a window on the rightmost wall behind the second sofa. There was also a lot of miscellaneous items scattered around the room, like vases, paintings and decorations.
Instead, I turned left and went into the kitchen. It was also quite roomy, not as big as the living room but still quite large. It was fully equipped with all of the essential kitchen appliances and a dining table in the centre that was only used for special occasions and holidays, such as Christmas.
I instantly started making breakfast. I can cook just fine, but there is never enough time in the mornings to make something like a Full English Breakfast, so I usually just stick to making a plate full of toast and crumpets. I get out the four-slice toaster, the bread, crumpets and the butter, put two pieces of bread in one side and two crumpets in the other and started toasting.
After putting breakfast on the plates, I heard the creaking of someone coming down the stairs. Turns out it was two someones as Harry and Scarlet come racing into the kitchen. They were now dressed in their school uniforms.
"Ha! I beat you!" Harry shouted triumphantly, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.
"No fair! You had a head start! Cheater!" Scarlet yelled back, just as tired as he was. They are both very competitive. They definitely get that from their mother; I don't have a competitive bone in my body.
He crossed his arms defensively "Liar, liar, pants on fire! You're just a sore loser!" This comment definitely struck a chord with Scarlet.
"You take that back!" She screeched, looking ready to claw his eyes out. Now THAT she got from me, her temper. I know that I have anger issues sometimes, and I've done some things that I wasn't very proud of in my life. I can thank my dad for that. I just hope that Scarlet wouldn't end up how I did when I was younger. Hopefully, with the way I raised her, it shouldn't have to come to that.
I think it's about time I stepped between the two before Scarlet decides to choke her brother to death.
"Hey! You two behave, or do you want to go without breakfast today." I stated sternly, going into strict parent mode. They instantly calmed down and looked at me with sad expressions.
"No, dad." No, daddy." They both said, heads hanging low.
"Now, what do you say to each other?" I asked.
"I'm sorry." They both said, giving each other apologetic look.
"Good. Now that that's over with, let's eat some breakfast." I declared, grabbing the two plates from off the countertop and turning towards the two rowdy kids. They immediately brightened up at the prospect of food, quickly grabbing a piece of toast and a crumpet each.
"Looks like someone's been busy." A voice abruptly said from the hallway. I instantly recognised the melodic voice of my wife, I had somehow not heard her coming down the stairs. She entered the room, now wearing her business attire consisting of a black suit jacket, a light blue skin-tight dress showing off her feminine curves, and black high heels. Her hair was now one big braid and she carried a small black handbag that she put on the unused dining table.
"Well, someone has to keep them in line." I replied with a grin.
"And I don't." She retorted, putting her hands on her hips and giving me a look that said 'You better watch what you say next.' That look always sent fear running up and down my spine.
Trust me, you do not want to get on Dani's bad side. I had learnt that the hard way. "W-What I mean... is... S-Someone has to keep them in line... W-When you aren't here..." I stuttered, watching my words carefully as to not say something I would regret later. Her expression immediately softened.
"Ha ha ha, you're so adorable when you're scared of me." My wife chuckled at my behaviour, walking over to me and kissing me on the nose softly. "I've got to go, alright? I'll see you later."
"...But what about breakfast? I made enough for all of us." I questioned, gesturing with the plates in my hands.
"Because of the fun we had earlier, I'm running a little late. Don't worry, I'll get something on my way. Besides, it means more for you three." She answered, giving me a smile as she ruffled Harry and Scarlet's hair. "I really need to go. I love you!" She gave me a quick kiss on the lips before leaving the room, me saying I love you back as I heard the front door close behind her.
"Bye Mum!" Harrison shouted after her as I took the plates into the living room with Scarlet and Harry following behind me. We still had 15 minutes before we needed to leave, so I usually plonked them in front of the TV while I worked on my laptop.
When the 15 minutes were up, and the plates were emptied, I told them to go get their bags. They went upstairs, with a little bit of hesitation and moaning, while I waited by the front door. Once they had got back downstairs, I grabbed my house and car keys and we left, making sure to lock the door on our way out. We hastily got into my red Ford Focus and drove off to their school.
The drive was quite uneventful; we had taken this route so many times by now that I could probably name every street we went down without even looking. Harrison and Scarlet were silent for the most part, talking about random topics every now and then. Once we were at the school, they shuffled out of the car, Scarlet giving me a kiss on the cheek, and walked into the school building.
Once I had gotten home, I locked the door and opened up my laptop to continue my work. Filing invoices, making orders; even on my day off I still have to work in one form or another. I would say the saying 'No rest for the wicked' is a very appropriate description of my life nowadays, but I really wouldn't have it any other way.
After finishing all of my little work tasks, I decided to switch the TV on and watch some shows for a while. The TV flickered to life before the previous channel, which was the kid's program Harry and Scarlet were watching before school, blared in my ears. With a grimace, I quickly changed the channel and sat back and relaxed.
I have been watching TV for the past hour or so now, and the thoughts of the vision were slowly coming back to the forefront of my mind. I knew I had to just wait for the dreaded moment to happen and not let the thought rule me, but I needed to do something productive, otherwise I'm going to go insane from the wait. I hastily turned the TV off, went out into the hallway and put on my steel toe cap boots on.
When we bought this house 6 years ago, when we had realised that we were going to be having kids; we couldn't live in a dinky little flat anymore, I made sure that we had a big garden for us to enjoy and for me to work on. The last owners must not have cared about the garden very much because when we moved in it was in complete disarray. Overgrown grass, weeds everywhere, broken down shed, it was in real need of some love and care.
But that's exactly what I gave it. Over the course of our first year living here, I weeded, strimmed, mowed, planted and built to make the garden the best it could ever be. The end result was nothing short of incredible.
The garden had a complete makeover, nicely trimmed lawn that the kids could play on, finely turned flowerbed to plant all of my flowers, fruits and vegetables, well-built shed to store all of my gardening equipment when not in use and greenhouse to store my indoor plants, trees and shrubs planted in specific places around the garden to make it look aesthetically pleasing, freshly built fences and walls, a nicely laid patio with outdoor furniture for me and my wife to chill on. That love and care had really made all the difference.
I decided now would be a good time to work in the garden, to keep my mind off things. I stepped out onto the lawn and shuffled over to the shed to collect my tools. As I opened the wooden door, I noticed the absolute disaster that was the interior. While the outside may look tidy, the inside certainly was not. It looked like a bomb had gone off in there. I guess Harry and Scarlet got their messiness from me. I definitely needed to organise this at some point soon, but I was thinking of doing other things right now.
I sighed to myself as I got to searching through the crime scene for the equipment I needed. I managed to get most of the apparatus free from the shed's grasp without too much trouble, having to spend most of my energy trying to pull the lawn mower out, except for one thing: my secateurs. I usually keep my three-inch long pruning knife on me at all times, but sometimes they just don't cut it. I knew that it was at the bottom of the pile of tools that I had gotten most of the others from.
"Ugh! This is going to be a nightmare. Why can't it just appear at my feet." I audibly groaned, looking up at the ceiling with my hands sliding down my face, before hanging loosely by my side.
As I stared up at the ceiling, I could feel my right-hand tense up slightly, but I just chalked that up to my body instinctively limbering up for the chore ahead of me and being frustrated. I could also swear I saw a faint green light at the bottom of my eye line, but I thought I was just seeing things. I quietly sighed and closed my eyes. I was just about to look down and start my search when I suddenly felt something hit my foot.
I abruptly opened my eyes in surprise and confusion and slowly looked down to see, to my utter shock, the secateurs I was looking for at my feet. Those definitely had not been there before. I shakily knelt down to pick up the suddenly appearing pruning tool and examined it. I turned it in my hand, looking to see if there were any strings attached to the handle or something of that nature, unfortunately not finding anything.
"The hell? How on earth did this end up by my feet? It can't have moved on its own." I questioned out loud, scratching my head in bewilderment. My head was starting to hurt from trying to think of an explanation, so I decided to leave the questions up in the air for now. I'm sure the answers will come in due time, but for now, I wasn't going to question it and get on with my work.
So, for the next few hours, I worked out in the garden, mowing the lawn before it got too tall, planting outdoor and indoor plants for the next growing season and doing general maintenance of the whole garden, including the pruning of each tree and shrub. You would be surprised how much of the lawn gets torn up after two hyperactive children have played on it for a couple of weeks.
After making sure that the irrigation systems were working properly so I didn't have to keep watering the plants every day, I looked at my watch to see it was almost time for me to pick up the kids from school. I dusted myself off, having gotten used to getting my clothes dirty from all of my years of working in gardens and made my way back through the house. I grabbed my keys and left.
Harrison and Scarlet's School
3:10PM
Soon enough, I drove up to the school and parked in front of the gates, not intending on staying for very long. It was 2:55PM, they would be leaving in 5 minutes so I waited... and waited... and waited... I watched all of the other kids coming out of school to greet their parents, but there was still no sign of either of mine. Wondering what was taking them so long, I quickly parked in a proper parking space and got out of the car.
Harrison and Scarlet's school was a huge modern looking building with large glass windows all along the front where you could usually see all of the children being taught by their teachers. To get into the school, you had to go through the playground. I was just about to head into the school building, thinking that I would've noticed them if they were outside, when I heard a sudden scream, sounding distinctly like a little girl's.
I crept up beside a wall and peeked around it quietly, what I saw made hatred boil in my body. I saw Harry and Scarlet backed up against the wall, infuriation described on the faces. In front of them was a boy that I recognised as Walter Martinez, a Spanish 11-year-old boy in Year 6. He's a spoiled little brat that gets whatever he wants; his parents are really wealthy and they pretty much built and own most of the buildings in our city, including our house, unfortunately.
"LEAVE US ALONE, WALTER!" Harry shouted in his face.
"Well, that's no way to treat a friend, is it?" Walter replied condescendingly in his posh accent. I saw him glance at the piece of paper that Scarlet had clutched in her hands. "What have you got there?"
"Nothing..." She whimpered, shying away from him.
"It can't be nothing if you're holding it as if your life depended on it. Give it here!" He reasoned, snatching the paper off her to examine it. I could just about see that it seemed to be a picture of our family. I smiled at the sweet sentiment but immediately clenched my fists, realising who had it in their grubby little hands at this moment.
"Hey! Give it back!" Harry yelled, trying to lunge for the picture but Walter yanked it away before he could reach.
"Is this your family?" Walter asked, ignoring the last comment. Scarlet nodded slowly and Walter seemed to look interested for a second. "This is so bad! Why would you draw something like this, and think that anyone would like it? Your precious 'Daddy' would never cherish this! This filth should be ripped up!"
At that, he took the top of the drawing by two hands and started to slowly tear it down the middle, revelling in the torture he was inflicting on them. "NO! STOP! PLEASE!" Scarlet screamed, tears rolling down her face; she probably spent ages drawing and now it was being destroyed right in front of her!
"HEY! What do you think you're doing?" It was my turn to step in now. I stepped out from my hiding place and strode towards them. Walter stopped ripping the top of the paper, his face instantly turning from horrid glee to utter shock and dismay.
"Um... Mr Walker! Fancy seeing you here...! I was just admiring the artwork that you daughter drew for you..." Walter lied, laughing nervously.
"By ripping it up?" I said quizzically, raising an eyebrow.
"Y-You saw that?" He asked, a little fearfully, hastily throwing the page at Scarlet's feet.
"Yes, I did. What makes you think you have ANY right to torment my kids like that?!" I said, raising my voice as I looked down on him.
"...Do you NOT know who I am?! I am Walter Martinez, son of Diego Martinez, head of the City Council, who owns most of the buildings all around here, even yours!" He replied as if he had been insulted, returning to his normal attitude.
"Yeah, I'm well aware who you and your father are, and that he owns my house. That doesn't mean you can go pushing people about like you're above everyone else."
"Yes, it does! It means I have authority! If I don't like someone, I can get them evicted from their homes with a snap of my fingers!" He snapped his fingers to prove his point, trying to seem older than he actually was with his "eloquent" vocabulary. This kid doesn't scare me in the slightest.
"Well, to me, you're just a spoiled little brat who doesn't know anything about the world he lives in! Relying on your dad for everything isn't going to get you anyway. It's just going to make people hate you. But I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?!" This child has no right to talk to ANYONE like this! He needs to be put in his place.
"Excuse me?! You dare insult my family name! I was just trying to give some honest critique but that just seemed to blow up in my face!"
"You call that honest critique?! You dismissed it almost immediately and started ripping it up! She's six! You're just a bully who doesn't care about anyone but himself! I saw your face when you were ripping the paper up in front of them. You were loving it!"
"That art was a piece of rubbish! It was a waste of paper, just like they are a waste of space that shouldn't even exist!" He stared daggers at my two kids, then back at me. I saw them both tear up at the comment.
That was the last straw. I had had enough of this selfish brat. My fury had reached its peak. With steam firing out of my nostrils, I lurched towards him, gripping the front of his jumper and hoisted him up into the air. He was shocked, to say the least, and tried to struggle out of my grasp, but I held firm.
"YOU DO NOT SAY THAT ABOUT MY KIDS! I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS SORT OF BEHAVIOUR! I have half a mind to smack you right here and now, but I won't; I have morals, unlike you! Now, I suggest you get out of my sight before I RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!" I roared, spitting in his face, frightening the life out of him.
At that statement, I dropped him from the height I was holding him at, which wasn't high enough to hurt him, unfortunately. He landed ungracefully on his butt but quickly got up and dusted himself off. He looked furious, but I could see there was quite a bit of fear in his eyes. I had done my job.
"HOW DARE YOU! No one speaks to the Martinez family like that and gets away with it. I will be letting my father know about this encounter and then you will be sorry. You haven't heard the last of me, Darren Walker!" With that, he stomped away, ice cold stare on all three of us.
"Yeah, you go do that! See if I care!" I finished, watching the disgraced boy go, tail between his legs. "Are you two alright?"
"W-We're fine, Daddy." Scarlet sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
"That... was... Awesome!" Harrison cheered. "You sure showed him, Dad! You even used a bad word on him. So cool!"
"No, not cool. I let my anger get to me again. What I did was very wrong, especially to someone like Walter. He may act mature but he's still a kid like you. I'll probably pay the price for it later. Don't ever do what I just did, got it?" I interrupted, giving them a stern look.
"But he won't bother us again, right?" Scarlet asked, hope in her eyes.
"I don't think so, sweetie. He sounded pretty angry. But I will protect you from him, at all cost, alright?" I promised, getting on one knee and stroking her cheek softly.
"Ok, Daddy." She said sweetly, melting into my hand. I looked down to see the drawing that had started this ordeal. I picked it up and examined it.
All of the people that were drawn were stick figures drawn in various different colours. In the background was a drawing of our house, with a bright yellow sun and luminous green grass. It was very endearing. The tear in the top was only a quarter of the way down the page and could be easily fixed with sticky tape.
"...Do you like it?" She questioned, looking up at me with pleading eyes.
"I love it. As soon as we get home and we fix it, I'm putting it straight on the fridge." I complimented. I could see her light up immensely at the comment. It always seemed like putting their accomplishments on the fridge was the highest form of reward for kids.
"Hey, how about we forget this ever happened and head out?" They nodded at the suggestion and we started heading for the exit. "But we need to head to the supermarket first to get some dinner." They nodded again in understanding as we got into the car and skirted out of the school premises.
City Centre
3:32PM
It only took us ten minutes to get from school to the supermarket. Once we got there, it didn't take us long to find a parking spot in the marginally busy car park in front of the building. I stopped the car and started to grab my wallet.
"Ok, kids. Let's go get some f-" I started to say as I opened the driver side car door, but I was stopped as something incredibly strange happened. My body froze and my vision started to cloud up. I didn't know what was going on. I couldn't see my natural surroundings anymore and it was started to freak me out. For a moment, I thought I had somehow gone blind, but suddenly I was starting to see again. The fog was still in my vision but I could see something, but it wasn't the inside of my car.
It was the outside of my car, more specifically the boot, and it was open. I was placing the shopping inside and the kids were just about to get back into their car seats when I suddenly heard a scream.
"HELP! THAT MAN STOLE MY BAG!" A feminine voice shrieked as I saw a man who I think was in his mid 20's, wearing all black clothes, carrying a red handbag running towards me at light speed. I looked behind him to see the woman, in a red designer dress with long blonde hair, who had shouted trying to chase after him in her high heels.
I didn't have any time to react so he sprinted past me, nearly bowling me over. I knew I had to go after him, but I hesitated because I didn't want to leave Harry and Scarlet alone.
"Stay here. Don't move until I get back." I quickly said to them before turning back to the day-light robber. "HEY! STOP!" I shouted as I started to run off after him. He sped up his run at my shout, me following suit, thankful that I had a job that required good leg strength and stamina.
The thief turned a corner down another street with me following hot on his heels. Unfortunately for me, he seemed to have back up as he got into a car that was parked by the pavement and it skidded away, leaving me in the dust.
"Crap!" I shouted, hands on my knees out of breath. There was no catching up to them now. So, I started walking back to the car park defeated.
"-ad. Dad. DAD!" I heard a voice shouting to me as I came back to reality. Looking behind me, I could see Harrison shaking my shoulder, concern lacing his eyes. I was in a shocked daze; did I really just have a vision during the day? That had never happened to me before, ever. Why is all of this weird stuff happening today? First the pony vision, then the suddenly appearing secateurs, now this!
"Dad, are you okay? You spaced out there for a second." Harrison asked, a worried look on his face.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. J-Just lost in thought, that's all." I lied, trying to put on my best smile for him. I didn't want to scare them.
"OK..." He replied, not looking convinced but not questioning it. All the while Scarlet looked oblivious to the world around her. "Are we going shopping or what?"
"Yes, let's go." I finished, watching them get out of their seats and exiting the car, me following suit.
We walked up to the car park towards the supermarket, thinking about what had just happened. "How can I have two visions in one day? This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder. It's starting to scare me. " I said to myself, guiding my children into the shop to buy all of the items we needed.
Ten minutes later, we had found all of the products and had paid for them at the till trying to put the second vision out of my mind. As I was starting to put the shopping in the boot of the car, I realised something. This is the exact same place I was in the vision!
"HELP! THAT MAN STOLE MY BAG!" A feminine voice shrieked suddenly. I didn't need to turn around to know what was going on, I had already lived through this. I knew I had to change this somehow. I had to stop this guy! I didn't want to have to get my pruning knife out of my pocket if I could help it, especially in public.
As soon as I knew he was going to pass me, I quickly spun around and put my foot in front of his path. He had no time to react and tripped, sending him sprawling to the ground in pain, handbag flying a few feet away from him. He started crawling towards the bag, dragging his toes along the ground. He was very determined to get away with this bag apparently, so I swiftly shuffled over and scooped it up out of his reach.
He looked up at me with a growl, looking like he was about to lunge at me, so I booted him in the face for good measure, knocking him unconscious. I grabbed out my phone and called 999, telling them about the situation. They got here five minutes later to arrest the man. I also hinted at the fact that this guy had some accomplices parked up around the corner waiting for him to show up. I handed the bag back to the woman, who thanked me profusely and gave me a grateful hug before we got back into our car and drove home.
Walker Residence
4:06PM
The drive home was full of praise and amazement from my kids, saying how cool I looked stopping the robbery. I tried not to have a huge grin on my face as I thought about how I changed the outcome of the situation for the better. Once we got home, I quickly got to work on fixing the picture that Scarlet had made. Putting it on the fridge really brightened her spirits.
We all tried to relax after the majorly long day we all had. The three of us play board games, like Monopoly, and card games, like Uno, for the next hour. Unsurprisingly, the kids won most of the games seeing as how competitive they were, but it's always so much fun to play with them. I love these two rascals so much.
Deciding that we needed to get away from the games after a particularly rough game of tag out in the garden, I switched on the TV and let them pick what they wanted to watch. They decided on a cartoon, as expected, and we sat down on one of the sofas together and watched it. It was a very basic show, but Harry and Scarlet seemed to enjoy it so I wasn't complaining.
Half an hour later, the show was over and the kids were bored again. They quickly thanked me for spending time with them and rushed upstairs to find something to do. I smiled at their child-like innocence. I kinda wish they didn't have to grow up.
I went to change the channel so I could relax for a little while before Dani gets home, when I noticed the show that had started while I was talking to my kids. It looked to be a brightly coloured cartoon starring pastel-coloured... horses. I believe it's called My Little Pony if I remember correctly. I had heard about it before, mainly that it was tailored to little girls around Scarlet's age but that young men that were my age were enjoying the show as well. I didn't really see the appeal myself, but I won't judge their opinions.
This usually wouldn't be cause for concern; this show would usually come on after my kids watched TV and I would change the channel, but today, in my now tried state, I looked at the show more closely. There were currently two characters on the screen, one was a small light pink horse, possibly a filly, with a light blue curly mane wearing a sash and saddlebags, the other was a... purple horse with wings and a horn with a star tattoo in its lower back.
She, I deduced from the sound of her voice, was getting panicked that she was late for a class field trip, getting some saddlebags out of a cupboard while hopping back and forth on her hooves. The filly calms her down and tells her not to worry. I gasped as I realised something.
"That's the same horse from my vision!" I said to myself in astonishment. Speaking of which, I also realised that I was now in the same position I was in my vision too.
"Crap! This is actually happening." I said to myself again. I looked over to the corner of the room to see, unsurprisingly, the same bright light from the vision.
Knowing what was coming, I covered my eyes with my arm to make sure that I wasn't blinded. Once the light was gone, I uncovered them to see the thing I had been waiting for all day. Standing before me was the same purple horse that was just on the TV. She was giving me a radiant smile, but I could see a small expression of worry in her eyes.
"Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle." The purple equine introduced herself, extending a hoof out in what I could only assume was a handshake. I very hesitantly accepted the shake, not wanting to be rude.
"H-Hi. I'm D-Darren Walker." I stuttered, still bewildered by the fact that I was talking to a purple pony from a little girl's TV show. I'm so glad that I know what's going on.
"Oh, I already know! I also know that you are a family man, living with your wife, Dani, and two kids, Harrison and Scarlet." She stated, making me even more baffled now.
"How did you-" I started to ask but she beat me to it.
"How did I know that? I've been watching you for a little while now, Darren. Studying you and your kind, learning what makes you tick." She replied, sitting on her haunches.
"So, you were basically stalking me?!" I asked, not truly believing what I was hearing.
"No, no, no, no, no! Nothing like that! Think of it more like a scientist observing a test subject. It was really fascinating to see how you talked and interacted with others. How different your kind is to mine is amazing." This was getting a little weird now, not that we weren't already living in Strangeville. This pony had been watching my every move, probably taking down notes like some weirdo, while I was none the wiser.
"O... kay. I'm just going to forget the fact that that's a little creepy. For now. You seem to know so much about me, but I don't know anything about you, apart from the fact that you're a magical talking pony who has been watching me for God knows how long."
"Oh, of course. As I said, I am Twilight Sparkle. I am the Princess of Friendship, one of the ruling Princesses presiding over the Kingdom of Equestria."
"Equestria? I've never heard of it before?"
"That's because it doesn't exist here. It's in a parallel universe where ponies replace humans."
"Ok, I guess that makes sense. Wait, you said you were ONE of the Princesses?"
"Yes, along with Princess Celestia, the Princess of The Sun, Princess Luna, the Princess of The Moon, who rule from the capital city of Canterlot, and Princess Cadence, the Princess of Love, who mainly governs over The Crystal Empire."
It took me a moment to process this information. "...What about you? Where do you 'rule' from?"
"Oh, I live in the small town of Ponyville, with my friends." Equestria? Canterlot? Ponyville? Way to be completely obvious with these names. I noticed that she seemed to have a more sombre tone of voice at the mention of her friends.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I decided to kneel down and get more on her level.
"Nothing... It's just that..." She seemed to have a hard time getting the words out, she couldn't even look me in the eye. "I miss my friends. I've been stuck in your world for a week now... They must be really worried about me."
"A week? Why can't you get back? As a matter of fact, how did you get here in the first place?"
"I used my magic. Magic is a major part of my world. It took a lot of energy to cast the spell to get here. I've only just gotten all of my magical ability back; I can go back home now whenever I want to."
"Why haven't you then?"
"Because I wanted to make contact with you first." She gave me a small smile, beaming at me with those huge eyes of hers that just couldn't help but make me smile at just how cute she looked.
"But out of the 7 BILLION people on earth, you chose to 'observed' me? You chose to make contact with me? Why?"
"Darren, from the moment I saw you, I knew you were somepony- someone... special. After observing you, I've seen how much of a nice person you can be. I saw you protecting your kids earlier, and how you stopped that mean thief too. I may not completely approve of your methods, but you were doing it for the right reasons."
"It was nothing, really. I was just doing right by my kids and that woman. Anyone would have done it." I blushed at the compliment.
"But you're not just 'anyone,' I said you were special and I mean it. I think it's obvious why I picked you." What does she mean 'special?' Whatever she found so obvious isn't to me.
"How so? I'm no one that special. I'm just Darren."
"Wait, you don't know? You're more special than any of the other humans I've seen. Your visions! Haven't you ever wondered why you have them? Where they come from?"
"My visions? No, I haven't. I've had them almost all my life. I never questioned them, until today... How are these relevant?" Now I was more confused than ever. How do my visions have anything to do with this?
"You really don't know. How can you not know!?"
"Know what!? What are you going on about?! Get to the point already!" I was starting to get angry that this pony was beating around the bush like this.
"Ok, Ok!" She sighed, clearly having a hard time getting the words out. " You might find this hard to believe. Darren... You have magic!"
…
…
...
"Ha ha ha ha ha! That's funny...! 'I have magic.' Please..." I laughed. That was complete rubbish. There is no way I have magic. I looked at Twilight's face to see her expression hadn't changed. If anything, it looked even more serious than before.
"...Wait, you're not joking? That's not possible! Magic doesn't exist!" I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as magic or ghosts. They make no sense in my mind and I don't know why people believe that nonsense whole-heartedly.
"But what about what happened earlier today, with your pruning tool? It just appeared at your feet out of nowhere."
"It was probably just at my feet all along and I didn't notice it straight away. That doesn't mean I have magic."
"No, it wasn't. You used Equestria magic, more specifically levitation, to pull the tool from the pile. I saw you do it. I know you wield Equestrian magic. I'm the Element of Magic, for Celestia's sake! I know magic when I see it!" She stomped her hoof to assert her point.
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but we're not in your world, are we? Magic is non-existent here. There is no way for it to exist. You should know that if you 'observed' me for so long."
"I got here by using my magic, didn't I?! What if somepony, or something, used magic to get to this world. I've seen it happen before." She stood back up and stepped towards me almost aggressively.
"Again, I don't know what you're talking about, but you're wrong about me! There is no such thing as magic in this world, and there is no way you are changing my mind!
"I'm not wrong about this! I know, with absolute certainty, that you have magic!" I had had enough of this craziness for one day.
"Just stop! This is ridiculous! I suggest you go. Go back to your world. You're wasting your time." I turned away from her with my arms crossed, adamant on my opinions and viewpoints, hoping that she would just leave.
"But... Darren..." She tried to continue, but I was done. I was at my boiling point with this pony.
"I SAID GO!" I yelled, suddenly spinning around and putting my right hand out in front of me. I don't know what I was planning to do but I never managed to do it; suddenly a luminous green aura type bubble came out of my hand and was sent flying across the room, straight past Twilight, hitting a vase in the corner. The vase was covered in the aura and sent soaring off its podium and onto the floor a few feet away, luckily not broken on the soft carpet. I gasped as I remember:
I could also swear I saw a faint green light at the bottom of my eye line, but I thought I was just seeing things. I quietly sighed and closed my eyes. I was just about to look down and start my search when I suddenly felt something hit my foot.
Twilight looked shocked at first, looking at the vase that had been forced to the ground, but then she looked back at me with a massive smirk on her face. "HA! See, I told you! But you didn't want to believe me!" She gloated. I was flabbergasted. I had managed to shoot an otherworldly aura from my hand and send a vase flying to the floor, all without touching it.
"What was that?!" I asked in utter disbelief, looking down at my hands with a little fear of the unknown.
"I would say that was a small but powerful burst of a levitation spell. It's one of the simplest spells for a normal unicorn back in my world to master. Seeing as you didn't know how to control it, it was sent out in a burst of energy that sent the vase across the room instead of taking hold of it so you could move it." She explained matter-of-factly. As if to show her point, I saw her horn lit up with the same sort of aura that was just released from my hand, except it was purple instead of green. That aura surrounded the vase and it was levitated off of the floor and back onto its podium.
"I did that!?" I said, more so to myself than Twilight. I was scared now. "What about with the secateurs?"
"That was a more concentrated levitation spell. You actually took hold of the tool and moved it yourself, as opposed to pushing it away with a burst of energy."
"But I didn't even know I could do that yet!"
"You did wish for it to appear at your feet. You must have done it subconsciously, without even thinking."
All of this new information, about alternate dimensions and magic, was giving me a headache. I needed to sit down, so I slumped down on the sofa in a sort of numb daze. "H-How do I control it?"
"You would have to train yourself to master your magic. I can help you with that."
"You would do that? After only just meeting me?" I gave her a sceptical look.
"Of course. I wouldn't still be here if I didn't want to help you." She gave me a smile, probably recognising the fear in my eyes. "Besides, I've watched you for long enough now that I can consider you a good person."
"…That's still a little bit creepy... But thank you! You're so nice for a pony that I have only just met. OK, let's get started!" I rubbed my hands together, ready to get this done.
"Wait, I don't know whether it's a good idea to do it here..."
"Why not? The kids are busy doing whatever upstairs, Dani won't be home for at least half an hour, we're alone. I don't see a problem."
"It could be dangerous. You could hurt somepony- someone... in an environment like this, and I don't really want to be spotted either. I would feel a lot better about this if you... came to my world?" I was surprised that she would make this suggestion.
"You can do that?"
"Yes, if I can come here, I don't see why I can't take you back with me." I was definitely uncertain about this, especially with what I had seen from the vision this morning.
"...How long would I be there for?"
"That's the thing. I don't know how long it'll be before I can transport you back. It will take even more energy to get both of us there, so it could be a lot longer than a week. It's nowhere near permanent, but it could still be a while." This had me severely worried. What about my wife, my kids? They would be lost without me.
"Wait, I can't just leave my normal life for god knows how long. What about my family. Dani, Harry, Scarlet. How do you think they would feel if I just suddenly disappeared?"
"I know how you feel, but this is the only way this will work out. I've been here long enough as it is."
"T-There has to be another way! Can't they come with me?"
"That's not a good idea. I don't think I would have enough magical power to send four people and myself to Equestria all at once. It was hard enough to get myself here as it was."
"...Then I'm not going. I'm not leaving my family alone!" I stood back up, adamant in my decision.
"But, Darren, you have no idea how to use your magic properly. If you don't come with me, then literally anything could happen. You're getting stronger, Darren. I don't want you hurting anypony!" She stepped towards me aggressively again, forgetting to correct herself.
"I don't care! I'm not going and that's final! I can figure it out on my own. I work better alone anyway. I'm sure I can figure it out somehow. Now would be a good time for you to leave. You've done enough!" I turned away from her once again stubbornly, hoping she would actually leave this time.
I had never really been one for "teamwork." I've worked alone all my life, apart from my family. They are the only people I trust. I only considered going with this pony because I was scared of whatever this magic is. Where did it come from? Why did I have it? All of these answered I would have to find out on my own. The room was silent for a moment. I almost thought she had left.
"...Fine. I get it. You can't bear to leave and let your family be alone without knowing where you are..." I smiled to myself, knowing I was finally getting through to her. "But I can't just sit on the sidelines and watch you possibly hurt somepony you care about with magic you don't understand. So, you've left me no choice. You've forced my hoof."
I realised that those words sounded all too familiar. She had said that in my vision. I knew exactly what that meant. I turned back to Twilight to see her eyes were closed and her horn was shrouded in her aura again. She was concentrating on the spell would take her home and, based on the vision and what she just said, she was taking me with her whether I liked it or not.
"Twilight... You don't want to do this..." I warned her.
"I'm sorry Darren, but I'm doing this for your own good." She replied with her eyes still closed. I could see her horn glowing brighter and brighter, getting closer to the apex of the spell. I can't let her do this! I wasn't going to be trapped in her world as the vision had said. I was going to change this outcome if it was the last thing I do! I did the first thing I could think of.
"Oh no, you don't! I'm not going with you!" I shouted as I sprinted across the room and tackled her to the ground, grabbing her by the horn. She yelped as we collided with the hard floor, taking away her concentration from the spell. Unfortunate for me, I was too late as the spell was cast before she completely lost her focus. We were suddenly shrouded in the same white light that had appeared when Twilight had shown up. Before I could do anything else to stop this process, the spell took full effect and I blacked out.