December 21, 1998
4 days before Hearth’s Warming
Blake was all nice and snuggled in his bed, but he couldn’t sleep. The thought of his little friend, PinkieTail, kept him up. ‘What is with that toy?’ He thought to himself. ‘How could it…’ His thoughts were interrupted by a strange thumping sound that ran through the house. He quickly sat up in his bed and quickly looked around. “What the… What is that?” He got out of bed and, using his ears, traveled out of his room and down the hall in attempt to discover the source of that sound.
Blake had followed the sound down to the bottom of the stairs. “Well, it’s definitely coming from somewhere down here.” He said out loud to himself as he wandered down the hall of the basement. The light was still out from the night before, and chills went down Blake’s spine as he trudged through the dark towards the light at the other side.
When he entered the large room, he was able to place the sound of the thumping to the front of him, slightly to the left. He moved in that direction, passing one of the columns as he approached the back of the room. There he found a little cave section that held the washing machine and all the cleaning supplies that went with it. Why they had a washing machine, Blake didn’t know. But what he did know is that the sound was coming from the washing machine, which had been turned on. He reached up with a hoof and turned of the machine. The thumping stopped and Blake sighed.
“Woah. That was fun!”
Blake jumped on the spot. He looked around for who might have said that. Eventually his eyes came back to the washing machine and on top of it was little PinkieTail, smiling and laughing. “What the? How did you get out of your box?” He asked the little pony. Her only reply was a smile. He sighed and picked her up with his hooves.
“Woah! Me feeling dizzy!” She said, her eyes rolling around in her head. Blake chuckled.
“Oh you silly toy.” He said, returning the friendly smile.
Then PinkieTail began to sing, but it was off-tune. “La la LA la lA la La LA La lA la La LA! UH-ohhhhhhh...:” Her voice became bumpy and rough as she spoke. “UH-ohhhhhhh…. UH-ohhhhhh.”
Blake knew what was wrong. “You need a charge, don’t you?” He asked the doll, who nodded in response. Blake walked back into the large room and headed towards the chair and table, where a little stand sat. When he got close, he was able to read the text: “To charge your Tattletail, place it on the recharge station and let sit for one minute. Tattletail’s battery will be fully charged afterwards. Warning: Do not overcharge Tattletail. Doing so will cause malfunctions in the programing.” Blake shrugged at the last part and placed PinkieTail on the station. She sat there on the base, continuing to say “Uh-oh” in a broken voice as her battery charged. After about a minute, PinkieTail’s ears perked up.
“All done!” She said, smiling. Blake picked her up from the stand and smiled.
“Feeling better?” He asked. She nodded.
“Let’s play!” She said. Blake nodded in response, placed her on his back and started into the basement, looking for a source of entertainment.
To the left of the basement, past the little cave that housed the washing machine was another hall that was connected to another small room and a door that led outside to the front yard. Coming to the entrance of this hall, Blake turned left and headed towards the small room. The door was open and a light shined from the overhead in the room. He entered the room and in front of his was a large object covered in a tarp. On top of it was what he was looking for: a small, green and yellow vase.
“Here we are!” He said with a smile. He grabbed the vase with his magic and looked at it. Then he lifted PinkieTail from his back and placed her inside.
“OH! It’s dark in here!” She exclaimed, her voice echoing inside the vase. “Oh, there’s an echo! ECHO!” Blake laughed at the little toy who was screaming from the inside of the vase. Then her head came slowly out of the vase at the top. “Peekaboo!” She said before slipping back inside. The two continued to do this for a little longer before they grew bored of it.
“Alright, let’s find something else.” Blake said, pulling PinkieTail from the vase. She squeed in excitement as Blake levitated the vase back to where it was. However, he failed to noticed how close to the edge he placed it and as soon as he let go of it with his magic, the vase fell and shattered on the ground.
Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered off, leaving the two in darkness… Almost darkness. Across the room, on the bottom of a wire shelving unit was the green light of a shakeable flashlight. Seeing it, Blake quickly grabbed it in his silver magic and shook it, generating light at the end with a bulb. He quickly found the door and left the room.
“Oh… It’s very spooky!” PinkieTail said with a slight Italian accent…
Blake simply shook his head AND the flashlight at the same time before finding the doorway that led into the big room. As he looked inside, his flashlight suddenly went out and across the room, he saw a pair of red, glowing eyes staring back at him. He held his breath as he stared at the red light, too scared to move.
Then the lights came on and whatever had been sitting there was gone. Blake let out a breath that he didn’t even know that he was holding.
“Mama’s watching…” PinkieTail said, not helping Blake’s uneasy feeling. Then she let out a yawn. “Me tried. Time for bed.”
Blake said nothing as he walked through the big room, keeping his eyes on the spot where the red eyes had been. He rounded the curtain and found PinkieTail’s box sitting on the table. He quickly rewrapped PinkieTail, saying goodnight to her, then placed the box back on the table. As he crossed the big room, he kept his eyes on the spot. There he noticed something. It was small and green in color. Upon closer examination, Blake found out that it was an egg. He didn’t know where it came from or who left it, but he felt the urge to pick it up, so he did. He opened the egg and found inside… Flower petals…
“Wha… Just what?” He asked, questioning the reason for this. He didn’t question it for long as he felt the grip of execution grabbing him, causing him to yawn. He quickly left for the staircase that led back upstairs.
When he got to the top of the stairs, the phone started to ring again. Once again, Blake’s curiosity got the better of him and he picked it up again. On the other end came the sounds of grinding and screeching again, which only worsen Blake’s current state of mind. Then the beeping came, but the line didn’t cut like last time. Instead, a voice spoke.
“Don’t worry… I’ll watch you… I’ll take good care of YOU…”
Then the line cut. By then, Blake felt his entire body shaking. He was scared, but of what? What was that downstairs with the red eyes? Who was that on the phone saying that they’ll take care of him?
And who is Mama?