Chapter 6: Suspicious Moments

"Oh gosh darn it, how in the world do I manage to lose track of time? Come on you old truck, get me home and fast!" I stepped down on the gas and sped up down the highway. I could not afford to get caught outside during the curfew, it's something I didn't want to think about. Finally I sped into the driveway, turned off the truck and dashed right into my house. The clock struck the hour and I sighed with relief. "Whew, made it."

"Oh come on, you got tired just from running?" asked another voice. It was of course Rainbow Dash, she and Rarity came out to the back porch to see me.

"No, I'll have you know I was bowling with my friends before I came here," I said firmly while panting at the same time. "We played three games and lost track of time. An employee had to tell us that if we didn't leave, we'd be stuck at the bowling alley until morning, so we left and in a hurry. I didn't even get anything to drink before I left."

"Here Darling, have this." Using her magic, Rarity brought over a glass of cold ice water. I accepted and drank it down with a satisfing 'ahh!' "You look like you've been running a marathon."

"Yeah and I feel like it too. Thanks for this Rarity, I really needed it."

I followed both Rainbow Dash and Rarity back into the kitchen where I found all the other ponies. They were actually at my table with a big home-made pizza sitting right in the middle of it.

"We hope you don't mind," said Fluttershy with that timid voice, "but we, uh, we decided to make dinner. You're welcome to have some with us, if you want to."

"I don't mind at all, and I would actually love to have some with you ponies. Truth be told, I haven't eaten anything since breakfast."

I took off my jacket and sat down right in between Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle. Twilight lit her horn and used her magic to bring two slices of cheese pizza over to the plate that sat in front of me. It looked so delicous, and in fact it was delicous. I have to admit, for creatures without fingers, the ponies sure do know how to make a pizza. And in case you're wondering, yes Equestria does have pizza, but I think you can only find it in Manehatten.

"So, um, did you have fun with your friends?" Fluttershy asked.

"Oh yeah, I had fun hanging out with them, but those guys are just like wind-up toys. Once they get going they don't stop, in fact that's why I was nearly late getting home."

"Hey, give Pinkie and I a chance and we'll tire them out," said Rainbow Dash with determination. Pinkie jumped at the idea.

"No!" I cried, making the ponies look at me shocked. "I mean, not really a good idea Dashie. I am the only human who knows you're here, it'd probably be dangerous if anybody else knew you were here."

"Even your best friends in the whole world?"

"Yes, it's only because I don't know what they'll say if they knew you were here. Some of them are not very good with keeping secrets, kinda like Pinkie Pie, uh no offence Pinkie."

"None taken." She didn't seem offended at all. Hardly anything gets that smile off her face.

Twilight wasn't a hundred percent sure if I should continue hiding the fact the ponies were here, but she said nothing, at the time. Instead, we just talked about their day and how their plans were going for the fight aganist Starlight. They had some good plans and I thought they would really work.

It's funny, the ponies have been in my house now for three days, and I was actually getting used to having them around. They were all great company, and really they were good friends to have. For a brief moment, I almost wished they could stay forever and I could teach them everything about the human world. But I didn't make that wish, for it would've been selfish of me. They are needed back in Equestria after all.

"You alright Sugarcube?" asked Applejack. "You were staring into space for quite a while."

"Uh yeah, I'm fine Applejack, I was just thinking to myself, that's all."

Pinkie suddenly started bouncing about, "oh let me guess, were you thinking about chocolate cake? Chocolate pudding? Chocolate cookies? Or maybe," she inhaled with a gasp, "were you thinking of a chocolate pudding cake and with chocolate cookies as toppings?"

Where she gets these ideas from, I'll never know.

"Not even close Pinkie, and there's no such thing as a chocolate pudding cake with chocolate cookies as toppings."

"Oh okay. But hey, maybe I could make one for all of us!"

She started bouncing over to the counter, only to be stopped by Twilight's magic. "Not tonight Pinkie, we just cleaned the kitchen remember? But I'm sure if you ask Matthew, you can make one tomorrow."

"Oh can we? Can we?" she asked with big pleading eyes.

"Uh, yeah sure no problem Pinkie. My home is your home after all, you can do what you want to do."

Hearing that, Pinkie Pie jumped up and down in an excited way. I couldn't help but share in her smile, and neither could the other ponies.

We all slept well that night, but when morning came, we were met with bad news. The bad news came on the local radio station; "the small town of South River Ontario was attacked last night. Local police officers are not sure how it happened, but what they do know is that it happened very quickly. Thankfully, no injuries, but businesses were attacked and a message was left on the side of a building. It reads; 'Be Preapred Twilight, I'm coming for you." We all gasped when we heard that. "Of course we can only guess at who it's referring to. We will continue to bring you more updates as they come in."

"It's going to be harder to keep ourselves a secret around here if Starlight is writing our names on buildings," groaned Rainbow Dash.

"That's the least of our concerns," said Twilight. "She's still on the move and she's attacking more towns." She then turned to me, ready to ask a question.

"It's the halfway point between Markham and New Liskeard, she's definetly getting closer to us."

"And that's just two and a half days alone," said Rainbow Dash. "By my calculations, she'll be here within the next couple of days, if not sooner." All the ponies looked at her, kinda confused, "oh right, like Twilight's the only one that says that."

"Either way, we're ready for her, right girls?" asked Applejack.

"Yeah!" they all shouted together.

"You got that right," said another voice. They looked in my direction, again looking completely shocked, "hey you don't think I'm just going to stand by and let that unicorn get away with what she's doing, do you? I'm helping you ponies take her down."

There was silence in the room, until Dash spoke up, "I like your attitude Matthew, you'd make a great wonderbolt...if you had wings," she said.

"I don't know," said Twilight, "you've already done so much for us..."

"And I'll continue to help you, no matter what it takes. It's just the type of person I am."

Twilight smiled and nodded, "very well, we accept your help. We could always use an extra set of hooves, or hands." She extended her hoof out to me and I shook it back with my hand.

Like the previous two days, I hung out with my human friends again that morning and into the afternoon, but this time, I was wearing a watch that would let me know ahead of time of when to get back to the house. Anyways, we once again went back to the bowling alley to finish our previous night's game. Ryan was in the lead, Patrick wasn't too far behind and Emily and I were coming in last.

"You really need to step up your game Matt," said Patrick.

"Yeah I know guys, I know."

Though to be honest, I wasn't really focused on the bowling game tonight. I was more concerned about the ponies. In fact during a break, I decided to call them, but I told my friends I was stepping out for some air. What I didn't know at first was that Emily had followed me outside and saw that I was making a phone call.

"I just wanted to make sure you're alright, cause it just feels wrong leaving you back at the house alone."

"Well we're not alone Matthew, we're all together," Twilight said on the other end of the phone. "Besides, if trouble comes, we'll be ready to fight it off."

"Okay I was checking to make sure Twilight."

"And don't feel quilty about not being here with us, all friendships are important, including the ones you have with your human friends."

"Yeah I guess you're right about..." I heard a crashing noise in the background at my house, "what was that?"

"Opps, sorry!" called Pinkie Pie's voice.

"You know what, never mind, I think I can guess."

Twilight giggled, "don't worry, we'll clean up that mess before you get home."

"Alright, well I guess I'll see you soon."

I hung up and walked back into the bowling alley where I found my friends waiting for me, all of which had firm looks on their faces.

"Uh, what's up guys? Aren't we going to get back to our game?"

"Who were you talking to on the phone?" Patrick asked with a raised eyebrow. I gasped, how did they know? One look on Emily's face gave me the answers I was looking for. "Who's Twilight? She a girlfriend?"

"What? No, of course not!"

"Then who is she?"

"She's uh, just a friend I recently met. She came along my route, and stopped at my house, so I'm working on a way to get her back home before too long."

My friends accepted what I said, but they still kept their firm stares on me. It really made me feel nervous around them, and it kinda creeped me out.

After all the bowling, we went down to the pier just to relax. We mostly tossed rocks into the water, seeing how far they could skip before they sank to the bottom. As the time went by, the weather changed and the wind started to pick up. There was no doubt, a storm was on it's way.

"Yeah you guys will want to get back to the hotel before that storm hits," I said.

"Uh Matthew, have you forgotten, there is a curfew going on," said Patrick. "We can't stay outside even if we wanted to."

"Oh yeah, I did forget that bit."

"Oh well, nothing we can do about it until the attackers are caught," said Ryan. "Still, I hope the attackers don't catch that person they were after. What was the name in the message again?"

Patrick gasped, "it was Twilight, the same name as Matthew's new pal." Suddenly, their eyes darted again towards me.

"Don't look at me like that guys," I groaned.

But they continued to stare at me with almost suspicious stares, "you just happen to have a new friend drop by, her name is Twilight, and her name just happens to be painted on the side of a building in South River Ontario."

"That doesn't prove anything Patrick, if anything, that just proves there's more than one Twilight."

"Perhaps," said Ryan, "but from what we've learned, the attackers are taking the same route you would normally take to get here. I think it is safe to assume that this 'Twilight' is the one they're after."

"Oh come on guys, don't be silly."

"You're calling us silly?" Patrick asked with a raised eyebrow. "Ever since we got here, you're the one that's been acting silly. In fact, it's almost as if you're hiding something."

"Who me? No, of course not."

"You're lying to us Matthew, we can tell. Come on, we've been friends since the third grade, and we've never hid secrets from each other, even when there were six of us in the group. Yet you're hiding things from us now."

"Is it because we all went our seperate ways?" asked Ryan.

"No guys, that's not it at all."

"Then why Matthew? Why are you not telling us?" Patrick asked. "We're your buddies after all. Why hide this stuff from us?"

"Cause I don't want you to find out who Twilight is!" I shouted angerily. Seconds later, I realised of what I just said, 'oh nice going you ding-bat!'

"So, you don't want us to know, well that's real nice of you to say Matthew."

I sighed deeply, "look guys, I didn't mean to hide these things from you. It's just...I don't feel you would understand, and in all honestly, I don't think you would treat Twilight with the respect I've been giving her."

"So you chose your new friend over us. Well fine Matthew, have it your way. Ryan, Emily, let's get back to the hotel." They turned to leave, but Patrick stopped after taking a few steps, "oh and don't worry about meeting up with us again, cause we're going to be leaving for Toronto tomorrow."

"No guys you don't need to do that, you can stay here and have fun exploring this great town."

"I don't think so, why should we when we're not wanted here?"

"Sorry Matthew, but I have to go with Patrick on this one. You really haven't been the best host since we arrived."

"But Ryan. Emily. Patrick..."

"Good-bye Matthew, it was nice having you as a friend for a while, but I guess like everything, friendships just die off." And with that, they got into their van and drove off back to the hotel.

I kicked the ground angerily and looked out to the water. The only friends I had left from childhood were now no longer my friends, I couldn't have felt more awful.

I drove back to my house, but I didn't go inside. Much to their surprise, from what I could see from the windows, I just walked into the garage, shut the door and sat down on a lonely bench. My garage was mostly empty since I don't have many tools in there, so it was a good place to calm down from my previous meet with my now former friends. Plus too I didn't want the ponies to suffer the wrath of my anger, so I just sat there, alone in the dark and wondered if they would ever forgive me for hiding the truth.