//------------------------------// // 1: The Mysterious Glow // Story: An Equestrian Adventure // by Trainboy //------------------------------// Well we might as well start at the very beginning. It was a time of celebration among the kids at St Junior's Comprehensive School. We were all finally getting out of that dump. It was time for us to move on into the real world, and not have to endure the terrible trauma from those exams ever again... Well, that's what I thought. I was personally experiencing the joy found from throwing rotten eggs onto the window of the teachers' offices. Yeah, we knew it was cruel, but there are some things in this world that you just can't forgive. So, when we'd fired the last of the eggs, we ran for it and met up in the middle of town. The middle of town itself was a generally large square. With stone statues placed here and there, a lot of them covered in pigeons and their droppings. Benches were lined up along the pavements and elderly couples sat and fed the birds from them. Traffic raced up and down the long lines of pharmacies and charity shops, and in the middle of this large square, was a large oak tree. It was here that I met up with some friends of mine. "Hey guys, what's going on?" asked Brett. A rather tough guy with a leather jacket, and I swear that cigarette was only used for show. He says he owns a motorbike, but secretly we don't believe him. "Not bad. Just egged the teachers' offices" laughed Harry. He's a 7 foot tall jock, with bright sparky ginger hair. We sometimes nickname him 'The BFG' for the hilarious look of anger he gets on his face. "Haha! Nice!" Andy laughed. Andy's the oldest in our group, he's probably the only one with blonde hair, but he can really rip up a tune on guitar. That's where Layla comes in, she's Andy's girl. Though she can be quite annoying sometimes, she does have a big heart. "I hope you guys didn't get them mad" Layla said "I got another exam tomorrow. Unlike the rest of you" "Oh we got them super mad" Harry smiled "Better watch your back Layla, or they'll come to..." "GETCHA!" Brett screamed. He had this hilarious trick of his, where he'd sneak up behind someone and shout behind their ears, scaring the wind right out of them. He loved to do this best to Layla, as she had a tendency to squeal, and swivel round. Making us all practically die with laughter. "Screw you Brett!" Layla cried, shoving him. She never really liked swearing, even when frightened half to death. "Oh come on!" Brett laughed "You must know, by now, that's what I love to do" "Can't you at least try something new just once?!" Layla shouted "I could but, how will that be as fun?" Brett said sarcastically, earning another hit from Layla. "Guys" Andy said, calming everyone down "It's the last day of school. Let's not spend it angry at one another..." Everyone stared. This wasn't like Andy, to be talking like this. "... LET'S PARTY!" Andy shouted. That was more like it. His cry ended in multiple cheers and whoops from the rest of us. "Who's number one!" Andy shouted "We're number one!" we all cried in unison. We then walked off down the street chanting "We're number one! We're number one! We're number one!" As we power-walked down the street, towards the club, I suddenly noticed a strange sight on the ground. It was a toy. But not just any toy. It was a toy pony. I didn't have a very positive look on brony's, so I picked it up, held it high in the air by the tail and shouted after the other guys. "Looks like Brett's left his girlfriend behind!" "Hey!" Brett said, pulling up his sleeves and clenching his fists. Laughing at my own joke, I flung the toy out into the road, where a bright white car came and crushed it. But, as I playfully ran from the advancing bag of muscle, I felt a strange feeling run down my spine. Like maybe I shouldn't have done that. Was that toy alive or something? I looked back, and creepily found that the face of the pony toy was facing me, and it's eyes were looking directly at me. I found it pretty creepy, but shrugged it off as coincidence, before running into the club to join the other guys. There was no way I was going to waste this evening by worrying about a my little pony toy. I don't remember a whole lot about that night. But whatever happened, I woke up in an alleyway, my shirt torn, holding a bottle of 'Smirnoff' and clutching something. It was the early hours of the morning, so it was still dark. When I looked at what I was holding, I nearly jumped back in fright. It was a 'My little pony' plushie. This was exactly the same as the crushed toy the previous day. With white fur, a blue, green and pink mane, a large unicorn horn and two wings. Having a crushed toy staring at me was a little creepy, but this was just turning into a horror movie. I got up, brushed myself off and began to walk back for home. "Help!" I swivelled round. "Who's there?" No reply came. I looked around a fair bit. Nowhere, could I see an intelligent creature that could utter the word... "Help!" There it was again. But my eyes struck the point where it had come from. It was coming from... The pony plushie? I picked it up and searched all around it. It was probably just a battery powered sound effect. But no matter how much I looked, I couldn't find anywhere where the noise would've come from. I looked at this pony's eyes. Was this pony speaking to me? Was it just a side effect from last night? What was going on? "Uhh" I said, unsure "Hello? P... Pony?" The plushie's eyes remained dead. I was about to put the toy down, when suddenly, the eyes jerked to the right, so to stare directly at me. I shouted in surprise, and dropped the thing on the ground. What was with this toy? Was it possessed by a demon of some sort? I wasn't someone who would believe in magic or folklore, but this was really starting to creep me out. "What do you want?!" I shouted at it. Still it remained silent. Then, suddenly... "Help! ... Sam!" Okay, now this was getting very uncomfortable. Not only was a toy talking and moving it's eyes, but it also knew my name? What freaky voodoo was going on here? I ran from the toy, and out onto the early morning streets. "Okay" I said to myself "That did not happen. That didn't happen. There's no such thing as toys coming to life" I staggered down the dimly lit streets. Doing my best to get home before sunrise. But wherever I went, whatever corner I took, I couldn't find anywhere recognizable. Was I walking in circles? I stopped for a quick breather, before the paved slabs below me were illuminated by something. I looked up. The light wasn't coming from a lamppost or light... It was coming from the old oak tree in the middle of the town square. I looked to my left, and then to my right. No one was around. "This better not be a... Dumb prank guys" I said. I then noticed something about the light from inside the tree... It was 2D. As in, it looked almost animated. I looked behind me for any projector that was making this, but I found nothing. I went to climb up the tree, but suddenly, I was gripped by something. It was a purple and pink smoke, that held me tightly in it's grasp. I writhed and wriggled, trying all I could to get out, but it only held me firmer. It was then I heard a voice from the light. "Sam... Sam... Sam" Before I knew what it was saying, I shouted in shock as the purple smoke carried me into the light. The light then flickered and disappeared from the street. You'd never have known it had been there in the first place.