//------------------------------// // Prologue: The Story must begin somewhere... // Story: For The Swarm // by VanishingAct //------------------------------// ‘So are you ready yet?!’ ‘I’ll be out the door in five.’ I replied to the phone. The guy that was phoning was a friend of mine. Not the bestest of best friends, but we shared common interests, like video games, sports etc. I wasn’t ever gonna let him know about how I was a brony though, oh no. That was my personal delight, and I would have been damned if anyone found out. I have my close friends and they have all expressed disgust in fandoms and such. ‘Dude, that shit’s for fuckin’ weaboos, anyone who watches it should be ashamed of themselves.’ That was another of my cohort’s reaction to me casually mentioning Naruto. I distinctly remember one of the guys in our class avoiding him for the rest of the year after that. Not everyone has the capacity to love and tolerate, I’m afraid. Oh yeah, class. I’m 15, just so you know. Anyway, I put the phone down and started getting ready to head out to the youth centre, joy of joys. It had originally been Mum’s idea to make me go there, something about meeting new people and drivel like that. It didn’t help matters that Davey decided to start going, which practically made it obligatory to go in Mum’s book. A mixture of not having much to do on Saturdays and nagging from both my dear mother and Davey forced me to get off my lazy arse and go. Arse, not ass. Davey was one of these hopeless romantic types, you know the ones. ’Love at first sight’ and all that jazz. He had two problems which made it so that he wasn’t able to garner any attention from girls. 1) He went to an all boys school, like myself. This obviously impeded matters as this meant that he wasn’t in much contact with humanity’s better half. He considered once about whether he was bisexual, before most of the class, including myself, shut down that train of thought. School’s hard enough as it is, much more so when someone you’ve known well for 4 years is giving you the look. 2) He was loud and boisterous around us guys, but was cripplingly shy when it came to girls and when I say shy, I mean Fluttershy level shy. He moaned about butterflies in his stomach and his head going funny when around them and shit like that. I never understood why though. They’re just your average, garden variety human beings, right? No need for nerves. And this is where the youth club and I come into the mix, the youth club being the meeting grounds of us youths, as it were, and I was there to provide support for the guy, make him feel comfortable around females. In other words, make him realise that he has freakin’ balls. He told me to dress plainly, so I cast away my standard, house lounging PJs and threw on a simple white shirt and black trousers. I went to the bathroom and had a look in the mirror. Black hair, brown eyes, 5’3’’, yeah that’s me all right. I washed my face, grabbed my phone and headphones and made for the door. ‘You be back home by 8:00pm, y’hear?’ ‘Where else would I go, Dad?’ ‘I was a kid like you once, I know what you think like. 8:00pm’ ‘Alright, Dad!’ ‘Love ya!’ ‘Right back atcha!’ I chuckled at my Dad’s profession of love to me. He tended to do that often, but it wasn’t till I was twelve until he truly told me why. ‘Y’see, there’s gonna be one day where your old man won’t be around to tell you that he loves you anymore. I just want to cherish the years I have remaining knowing that I told you several times. I just want ya to know.’ ‘Well duh, of course you love me, and of course I love you! Stop being so melodramatic about it already, it’s not like you’re gonna die all so soon or go missing or something like that!’ I laughed again at my response at the time. Since when does a twelve year old scold their dad for being melodramatic? My stance hadn’t changed though. Of course a father loves his son and vice versa. What would humanity be without parent figures to teach and give understanding, direction and love? I opened the door to find Davey, sitting on the doorstep, or rather, was sitting on the doorstep. No-one told him that our door swings outwards, and so he was currently sprawled out on our driveway. ‘...Ow...’ mewled Davey. I couldn’t contain myself, so I just laughed at the demise of my formerly well groomed friend, dust all over his blue skinny jeans, mud on his shoes and a leaf in his hair, fallen from the tree in the drive. Try picking up any girls like that, sucka! ‘Yeah, yeah, laugh it up why don’t you? Give us a hand at least.’ I lent him my right hand, which he used to pull himself up gracelessly off of the grassy driveway. ‘We’ll be off then, shall we?’ I chirped before realising that my good friend was cupping his nose in his hand. Turned out that it was bleeding profusely so I pulled a tissue from my pocket (Be prepared, Scout’s motto!) and handed it to him, which he thanklessly accepted. We started out short walk down the road, only two blocks till we were there. ‘So who is she, then?’ I inquired. ‘Whu?’ replied Davey, nose still stuffed with tissue. ‘Don’t fool me around, Davey, there’s always one when it comes to you.’ ‘Effuckef Ben, I ai’ gudh dim fo divs’ ‘You what?’ Davey removed the tissue and continued. ‘Just shut the fuck up, Ben.’ Oh right that reminds me. The name’s Ben Brown, not that it will matter soon enough. ‘Oh come on, don’t be like that! Just tell me and then I’ll can it.’ ‘Fine. Her name’s Mercedes.’ Davey started to go red. ‘Spanish?’ ‘No, English’. Wait what? Since when is ‘Mercedes’ an English name? ‘Strange name for a Brit.’ ‘The name doesn’t matter,’ Said Davey in a sing-song tone. Oh here we go again... I rolled my eyes. Davey, oblivious to my motion, continued, ‘No, it is the person that lies behind the name, fair of face and of sweet scent, ...’ and etcetera, etcetera. If you’ve ever read classical British love poems, that’s basically what Davey here was saying. I cut him off before he started about how unworthy anyone was to have this Mercedes chick, I’d heard it all before. ‘Gee, why don’t you just marry her in secret already? Perhaps kill her cousin the day after and then run off to a different town in wait of her word? Just don’t buy poison when you go back, loverboy!’ That shut Romeo up nicely. We were at the door to the centre when he asked a question of his own. ‘And what about you then? Got a special someone on your mind?’ The normally playful tone that adorned Davey’s speech had returned. ‘No.’ I replied curtly. ‘Seriously?’ ‘Yup.’ ‘There’s nothing there?’ ‘I’ve already told you about this, Davey, I’m not interested in any romantic relationships with the opposite sex.’ I quickly realised that I shouldn’t have added that last part but not before Davey could latch onto it. ‘So you would be fine with relations with the same sex?’ Davey’s smile was now venomous. ‘N-‘ ‘I never knew you swung that way, Benny, my boy, but we are a modern society and as such I whole heartedly accept that this is who you are,’ He swung the door open and waltzed in, a spring in his step. ‘I shan’t judge you any differently as I have before. I fact, I think I respect you more now that you have come out.’ He said, just loud enough so that everyone in the hall could hear. As much as I hated his guts then, I still couldn’t help but thinking that this was the Davey I was friends with, not that ponce speaking like he has a rod up him. I resented every infatuation that Davey got, because I knew they would go away as quickly as they came. Davey was a funny guy when he wasn’t moping around, moaning about all the things that could have been. All the things that could have been if you weren’t such a gigantic pussy! I thought. All of a sudden I realised that he had clammed up and had shrunk his body form. ‘She’s here.’ He whispered. She was at the second of the pool tables, chalking up her cue, certainly fair of face as Davey proclaimed. As for scent, I wasn’t able to tell past the sweaty chess players that we were in front of. I could certainly understand my friend’s attraction to her, especially as she took to the table, bending over to hit the cue ball, in those tight jeans of hers... Hey, I may not want female company, but I appreciate a good arse as much as the next man! Anyway, I turned to Davey and said ‘Well, we can’t do anything about her now, I mean, look at the state of you,’, for Davey was still covered in the mud and dust from his fall, and his nose was still bleeding out. ‘Just grab a chess table, I’ma grab myself a drink and be over in a sec, ‘kay?’ Davey nodded his approval of my plan, tissues covering his nose again and sat at a table, making sure that he was out of sight. ‘The hell will I do with ya...?’ I remember sighing to myself as I went past the pool tables and some old guy I hadn’t seen before. He regarded me with a tender look in his eyes as if he was... Dad? I quickly brushed off the thought and headed over to the drinks table. I hadn’t had a drink since the journey here and my throat was getting rather scratchy, so I went over to get a cup of Sprite. It was only when I got to the stand that I realised the usual guy wasn’t there. Instead there were two guys, roughly 6 years my senior, one in a blue shirt with black hair hidden by a fedora and blue eyes and the other in beige with ginger hair and... Purple eyes? What? My rational mind quickly came to the rescue, brushing them off as contacts, after all, purple eyes are impossible, right? However, their appearance didn’t matter to me at the time; the more pressing matter was... ‘Where’s Larry?’ ‘Oh, erm, he’s in the hospital!’ said Blueshirt, in an almost panicky tone. ‘Wait what? What for?’ I replied with alarm. Larry was a nice guy, someone I liked. He held a conversation without going too far, knew when something was bothering you and did his best to at least listen to your problems, if you so chose to say them, so hearing the news that he was in the hospital was distressing to say the least. ‘Erm, err...’ Blueshirt stumbled over his words, almost as if he was unsure of what to say... Anxiety about telling me bad news, I had presumed at first. ‘Well, he needs a hip replacement.’ He said finally. I let out a sigh of relief, not only because Larry wasn’t in any imminent danger, but also that he was finally getting that darn hip fixed. ‘Oh, good,’ I said cheerily, ‘So who are you guys then?’ ‘Call me Phil, my friend’ said Blueshirt in a warm and friendly voice, as if he had known me for years. He held out his hand and I shook it, noting the firmness of his grip, strong but not overpowering. ‘And I’m Stodge, pleased ta meetcha!’ said his cohort, in a more regular tone, the one you hear from friendly people the first time you meet them. This warm display made my lips curl into a neat smile. I guess you could say that it filled my heart up with sunshine! That at least made me forget the conundrum of his odd name. ‘So, what will it be then?’ asked Phil. ‘Sprite can.’ ‘That will be 50p, my good friend.’ I paid and took my drink in hand, pulled the ring and sipped a little. That refreshing lemony taste graced my tongue once again, dear Lord this stuff was good, but amongst all of that there was something strange mixed in. It tasted like... bananas? Whatever it was, it certainly was making me feel woozy. My thoughts quickly became disorganized and my vision became murky and distorted. ‘So!’ chirped Stodge, happy as ever but muffled this time. ‘Ever hear of a place called Equestria?’ ‘Yeah..’ I managed, noting that my speech had become slurred, before returning to thoughts of Tibetan doughnuts. I like doughnuts. Said my intoxicated mind. ‘So how would you like to go to Equestria?’ said Stodge. I remember managing a ‘Hell yeah!’ before hitting the ground. After what felt like hours, I managed to finally regain consciousness. I hadn’t gained control of my eyes yet, so I couldn’t tell where I was. Wait... What happened? I started piecing together what had happened that night (at least, at the time I thought it was still night). At house. Davey called. Youth centre. Done deal. Dad’s goodbyes. Davey fails. Davey mopes. Davey calls me gay. Daveyshy. DAT ASS. Need drink. Blueshirt and Beigeshirt. Can of Sprite. Tibetan doughnuts. Equestria. I realised there was something missing in my thoughts, in between the Sprite and the doughnuts. Why was I thinking of doughnuts... wait a minute.... Loading... Loading... Loading... I got drugged! Well shit. I thought to myself. I was now passed out somewhere after getting drugged by a couple of guys I hadn’t met before. It was then that I noticed the softness that enveloped me. Duvet? So I had a duvet around me. I breathed easy, realising that I was probably at home, and not a minute too soon. But something is amiss... This bed was too soft. It wasn’t my crusty, hard lumpy bed that I usually occupied. Then... I’m not home... Where am I?! Panic quickly set in. I’d been captured! Whisked away to wherever those curs lived! They were probably planning something for me! My mind flashed to the news a few days ago... ‘Police are now planning on targeting these so called ‘rape rings’...’ Shitshitshitshitshitshiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!! I had to open my eyes, to see where I was, and to find any escape. I struggled, pushing up against my eyelids with violence and determination until light flooded in. And it hurt. After the initial sting of the light overload, I decided to look around. This room had blue walls, with patterns along the ceiling and a lavish chandelier, with crystals adorning it. Rich rapist. I thought to myself morbidly. ‘Brother, check it out!’ cried a cheery voice. That Stodge guy. ‘Our guest is awake! How are you feeling?!’ Guest?! Seriously?! You capture me and then call me your guest?! And as for how I’m feeling, pissed off doesn’t even cover it!! ‘Well I’m sorry to hear that, my friend, but I assure you we didn’t take you out of malevolence.’ Said that warm and friendly voice. Phil. He walked up to the bed, with a strange clacking coming from behind him. Well this is it. Time to prepare my anus. And then the owner of ‘Phil’s voice peered over the bed. I looked at him oddly. His fedora was now something fitting of a musketeer, with a bright orange feather through it. And his face was... blue?! He had ears poking out of his hat, but these weren’t human. They were longer and stood on end, flicking left and right every so often. There was also something else protruding from his hat. A horn? What? I looked at him with more intent now. He didn’t have a nose, rather, he had an angular snout where his nose and mouth were placed. A... A pony?! LogicAndReasoning.exe has discovered a fatal error with the plugin WhatYouAreSeeingRightNow.dll. System shall now attempt reboot. And with that, I passed out for the second time that evening.