//------------------------------//
// Down That Dark Alley 
// Story: Friendship's Journey 
// by AstraPony 
//------------------------------//

It started out like any other day: wake up, went to high school, talked to my friends afterwards, the walked home with them. You're probably wondering who my friends are. They're names are Shaye– the shy type, but isn't afraid to defend those she loves– and Sydra– bold and can be a little mean, but she means well. We lived on the same block (have for years), so it wasn't a surprise that we became such close friends.

I always carried my purse with me. It had my money, cell phone, and driver's license– but mom never let me get my own car. We took the shortcut through the alley between two apartment buildings like we did every day. Before we entered, I saw a guy sitting on the steps to one of the buildings. He kinda creeped me out, so I started walking faster into the alley and my friends followed suit.

The alley was 200 feet long. We were about 3/4 of the way through when it happened. I was looking to my left and was talking to Shaye. She was mostly facing forward– barely looking in my direction so she wouldn't trip on something but was still paying attention to our conversation. Sydra was walking with her Nintendo 3DS in her hands– playing the newest Pokemon game– and she wasn't really paying attention to my and Shaye's conversation, but glanced up every now and again to make sure she didn't walk into something. All of a sudden, Shaye's face went wide and she stopped in her tracks, looking dead ahead. Without taking my eyes off of Shaye, I reached back and tapped Sydra on the shoulder. She stopped and looked over to me and Shaye.

"What's wrong, Shaye?" Sydra asked.

Shaye didn't respond, so I looked over to where she was looking. That's when I saw him. A man was standing down at the end of the alley. The alley was dark from the shadows of the two buildings so I couldn't see the man's face or what he was wearing... but I could see the gun.

"Run!" I shouted to my friends.

Sydra did so in an instant. I was about to run to, but quickly remembered Shaye was petrified. I grabbed her arm and ran with her towards the other end of the alley. I looked back and could see the man was following us, but wasn't running. They way he slow walked almost seemed like he was mocking us or something.

We were almost to the other end of the alley. Our three sets of running feet were echoing loudly off the walls. 

I thought we were gonna make it.

That's when the man that was on the steps had stepped out in front of the alley while holding a baseball bat. I almost ran into Sydra when she abruptly stopped.

I turned around and saw the man still walking toward us. I could faintly make out two more men behind him. Sydra began backing away from the man with the bat and back further into the alley. She turned around and saw the armed man and his goons about 30 feet away from us. I looked back at the bat man and saw two goons of his own had somehow appeared behind him as well.

We were trapped.

I kept looking back and forth between the two groups of people, looking for a way out. I suddenly remembered that I had my phone on me. I could call the police! I slowly reached my hand into my purse that was hanging on my shoulder. I felt around for my phone. A rush of relief surged though me as I felt a cool, metal rectangle.

Bingo! I thought to myself. I pressed the power button and turned it on. I didn't take it out so the men wouldn't see it. I looked down towards my purse and started to pull up my calling app. Suddenly, the Nyan Cat song began playing at full volume. I had forgot that I had looked it up on YouTube last time I was on my phone! We were fucked for sure!!

"Ah, ah, ah..." Said a gruff voice in a sing-songy tone behind me. I turned and saw that it had been the man with the gun. "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" There was only 10 feet between us. I looked back and was surprised to see that the same was true for the bat man. But what had really shocked me was that Sydra, Shaye, and I had somehow backed 50 feet back into the alley.

"Now do as I say and no one get shot." the man said as he held up the gun, turning it back and forth to show both sides– as if he was showing us that it was real. Not that I needed confirmation.

"Please!" SHAYE begged, "Let us go!"

"Not until you give me what I want." He slowly stepped closer which allowed me to see him better. 

The man wore a plain leather jacket and jeans. His shirt had the Harley Davidson logo on it. He had a scrubby beginning of a beard showing through on his face. His dark hair was pulled back. Leather gloved hands held a small handgun.

"What do you want from us!?" Sydra said angerly as she stepped towards him, a scowl on her face. 

"I want the elements," replied the man.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" I spat at him.

"You know what I mean..." he said calmly. "Now hand them over!" the man yelled, trading the calm tone for an angry one and the gun pointing at. I could hear guy behind me softly tossing the bat in his hand.

"Look mister! I don't know who you are but we sure as hell don't have any stupid ele-" Sydra didn't get to finish her sentence. The man fired his gun, hitting her in the chest. She gave a yell and fell to the ground.

"Sydra!" Shaye cried as she knelt by her side and began to sob. I stood there, petrified at the sight of my friend injured on the ground.

"Now I'm going to give you one last chance," the man said to me, gun point at my chest. He looked directly in my eye and yelled, "WHERE ARE THE ELEMENTS!"

"I don't know!" I said with tears in my eyes as began to choke up. I backed up just slightly, like that would save me from what was to come.

I saw it in slow motion. His finger curled back, pulling the trigger. I didn't even heard the sound of the gun as it discharged it's deadly offspring. A pain like no other radiated through my chest and to the rest of my body. It had suddenly became harder to breathe. Although I didn't tell them to, my hands clutched my chest where the bullet had entered. I fell to the ground of the dark, dirty alley. My head hit the ground and stars flooded my vision.

I laid there in agony, my brain was in a panic as it tried to both handle the pain and think of a way out at the same time. I turned my head to face Shaye and Sydra. Shaye was absolutely bawling as she held her dying friend's hand. She looked over to me and I saw her tear-covered face. Shaye somehow began to cry more when she saw me laying on the ground, looking at her.

"Hannah!!" She shouted.

Suddenly, sirens began to fill the air. "Oh, shit! It's the cops!" yelled one of the men.

"Grab the purse and let's go!" the shooter yelled. One of the men ran over, grabbed my purse, and began running down the alley. Shaye was sobbing over me. I looked up and saw the man standing behind Shaye with the gun pointed at her head.

"L-look o-o-out..." I tried to yell, but it came out as a whisper. Shaye heard it anyways and unknowingly looked behind her at her doom. BANG

She died instantly and fell on top of me. I knew for sure she was dead when she didn't draw breath. I looked over at Sydra. Her breathing was ragged and unstable. I couldn't see the damage because see was laying on her chest. She looked and saw me looking at her.

Sydra's arm began to move towards me. I knew what she was doing and I began to move mine as well. It hurt to do so, but I continued on. Her arm trembled and began to slow. I saw her fading and tried to move quicker. Sydra's arm was fully extended and so was mine, but our fingertips just barely touched.

I gathered what little strength I had left to scooch myself over to her. As soon as I was close enough, I held her hand tightly. I could see the pain she was going through in her eyes as Sydra looked at me.

"I-its g-gonna be o-ok." I said to her softly.

"I-I don't wanna d-d-die.." Sydra whispered as tears formed in her eyes.

"Don't w-worry. I-I-I'm r-right here." I hushed. Sydra's grip of my hand loosened all the way. I saw her breathing slow and then stop altogether. I looked into her eyes and saw that they were glassy and distant. She was gone.

With my friends and the men gone, the only thing I could do was stare up at the sky and listen to the sound of police sirens nearing. I felt sleepy in a way. The pain in my chest was horrible, a nice little nap would help make it go away. My eyes began to close. No! I yelled at myself in my mind. I have to stay awake. Even though I fought Death's grip, I just couldn't hold out anymore. 

I heard a police car pull up next to the alley. A young cop stepped out and gasped when he saw us.

"This is Officer McKnight," he said into his walkie. "I need a bus in the alley next to the Kennedy apartment buildings!" He ran towards me. "Is anyone conscious?"

I didn't speak, but moved my arm to signal that I was alive, for now. He hurried next to me and moved Shaye off me. Without her weight it helped me breath a bit better, but not much. The officer put pressure on my wound. Despite his help, I felt myself fading.

"Stay with me now!" Officer McKnight said to me, but his voice was faded. The world around me began to darken. I gave in to Death's embrace and closed my eyes.

Then there was nothing.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

I felt my senses return, but something was off. I couldn't feel by hands or feet and it felt like I was laying on grass. I heard a groan from somewhere next to me. I heard the grass shift as if someone sat up. I then heard a gasp.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

The voice was familiar. I thought about who it was. Sydra! I thought. Then I remembered the alley. She was dead, so was Shaye and me.

I sat up and opened my eyes. I was in a field and could see a small town in front of me. I attempted to stand on my legs, but failed and fell. By falling, I could see my arms in front of me... but no hands.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE MY HANDS!!?!?" I yelled. Looking up, I saw a tiny horse in front of me. It was darkish blue with short, light purple hair and dark green eyes. It also had wings.

"Hannah?" the tiny horse asked. It sounded like Sydra

"Sydra?" I asked as I sat up on my butt.

"Yes!" She yelled. Sydra smiled, but then suddenly frowned. "Wait a minute. Why are we not dead?"

"I have no idea..." I said.

"Why would we be dead?" asked a voice from behind me that sounded like Shaye. I looked behind me and saw yet another tiny horse. It was a very light lavender with long black hair and blue eyes. But she had some sort of pointed growth on her forehead.

"Uh, Shaye?" Sydra asked.

"Yeah?" She said, finally looking towards us. Shaye looked at us and her eyes widened. She screamed.

As a young child, Shaye always wanted to ride a horse. On her fifth birthday, her wish came true. But not even a minute into the ride, the horse bucked her of and she hit her head and started crying. Shaye has had a minor fear of horses ever since.

"Get away!" She said as she began scrambling away. Suddenly, the growth lit up! It was surrounded by a purple light, but so was I! I was suddenly launched away and up into the air. I began falling. I screamed and covered my face with my hooves and braced for my second death.

I felt something on my side move and extend. I looked over and saw my own set of wings! I looked down and saw that I was gliding through the air. I eventually landed on the ground on my four hooves. I figured that I was a tiny horse too and tried to walk like one.

After a lot of stumbling and a little falling. I made my way over to my friends. Sydra was trying to calm Shaye down who was hyperventilating. She eventually calmed down, but began freaking out again when she was told that SHE was a tiny horse too.

After calming her down a second time, I felt something wizz up next to me. I looked to my right and saw a pink face staring at me– just inches away from my face– with a huge smile on it's face. I yelled and stumbled backwards. It was another tiny horse, but was pink with big, poofy pink hair and didn't seem to have any extra appendages. It opened her mouth and spoke in a high-pitched, feminine voice.

"Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie! Welcome to Ponyville!"