This story takes place just after the episode “Family Appreciation Day”.
Disclaimer: I do not own and did not create My Little Ponies: Friendship is Magic. It belongs to the Hub cable TV network and Hasbro. My congratulations to Lauren Faust for taking what would have been nothing more than a blatant toy commercial and turning it into a truly epic series worth viewing by all ages.
I didn’t write this story for profit. It is merely intended to entertain any reader who stumbles upon it. I hope my poor attempt has some merit in the eyes of those who read it, and if not, well at least I tried.
Author’s Note: I’d like to thank GoldenGriffiness for being my beta-reader. As always, her input was critically important for improving the quality of the story. And of course, any remaining errors are, alas, mine and mine alone.
Thanks go out to TLOSpyroGirl for providing the inspiration (and title) of this story.
However, Teelo is not TLOSpyroGirl, but an OC entirely of my own creation! Any resemblance between them is completely accidental and certainly not me poking gentle fun at a fellow writer…
I wish to apologize to fan fiction author LM (aka Lady Moondancer) for borrowing her character Pinstripe Tock from Canterlot Follies. But I desperately needed a concierge for Canterlot Castle and he is simply perfect for the job.
If you haven’t tried LM’s fiction may I heartily recommend Justice League Ponyland, perhaps the single finest MLP story in existence? It was the one that opened my eyes to just exactly how awesome My Little Ponies could truly be. May I also recommend Canterlot Follies an absolutely spiffing read, what?
Finally, I took the liberty of incorporating places mentioned on a map of Equestria created by Hlissner over on Deviant Art. It really is an amazing piece of artwork. It’s hosted on Equestria Daily and is the first entry on Google for “Map of Equestria” if you’re curious.
Oh, and Laoise is pronounced LEE-sha. Gotta love Gaelic…
Teagan yawned as she bent herself backward, arms overhead, to ease the stiffness in her shoulders and back. Glancing at the clock she yelped in dismay. It was almost 2 o’clock in the morning! She’d promised her parents to go to bed by midnight. If she was still up when they got home she’d be grounded for sure, even though it was Friday night—well, Saturday morning.
Hastily typing a good-bye to her forum friends she hit the power button on her computer. Even as the machine was obediently powering down she was out of her chair and running for the bathroom. She reached for the toothbrush with one hand and the toothpaste with the other.
Brushing furiously she stared at her reflection in the mirror, despairing over the stereotypical Irish face staring back at her. Long red hair framed a pale freckled face with bright green eyes and a nose that could break mountains.
She had to admit she liked her eyes, but the freckles—arghhh. And the less said about her nose the better for the health of all concerned.
It didn’t help that her parents had gone overboard in celebrating their Irish ancestry when they named her either. It would be one thing if they lived in Ireland, but they lived in Kansas for heaven’s sake!
Growling in frustration at the earliest in a long line of indignities inflicted on her she raced back to her room. She turned off the lights and changed into her pajamas in the dark, just in case her parents were driving down the street.
Teagan Laoise O’Gara. What kind of name is that to saddle a fifteen year-old with? And they wonder why I demand to be called Teelo. Geez, how clueless can you get? What makes it worse is that Laoise isn’t even spelled anything like it’s pronounced!
She settled grumpily into the bed’s cold embrace, snuggling into the mass of blankets, thankful her PJ’s were made of thick flannel to chase away the chill air of her room.
That’s another thing. I know everybody’s worried about the economy but couldn’t they afford to turn the thermostat up past 65? Makes me freeze every night until the bed finally warms up!
She yawned again, starting to slip into sleep as her body heat slowly permeated the cocoon of bed linens.
That’s when the voice whispered in her ear.
“Oh my, my, my, Teagan, you are such a spoiled little brat, aren’t you?”
Teagan tried to scream and scramble away from the voice but she was completely paralyzed. Fear crawled through her like a worm, knotting her stomach, drying her mouth and closing up her throat until she could barely breathe. But she just lay there, unable to move, unable to do anything except listen to the horribly cheerful voice as it continued remorselessly.
“Did you actually say your parents saddled you with your name, my dear? How delightfully apropos! Personally, I rather like your name, especially your middle one.” There was a good natured chuckle that turned her blood to ice.
“Yes, I think you’ll do. I think you’ll do nicely. And now you need to go to sleep, my pretty little girl. When you wake up you’re going to meet my little friends, yes you are. And then we’re going to have so much fun…”
She couldn’t believe it could get any worse, but of course the universe punishes those kinds of thoughts. She couldn’t even whimper as her blankets were pulled part way down and something soft and fuzzy was pushed over her limp, unresisting hands.
She wanted to scream, she needed to scream, but her body wouldn’t obey her, it was as though she were drugged. As much as she tried to struggle her body was a traitor, refusing to move.
The blankets were rearranged to their original position and the voice chuckled again. Then to her horror she felt a hand caress her face, pushing her hair back over her ear. She hadn’t believed she could get any more scared, but there was something wrong with that hand, the fingers were too skinny and the skin was rough and scratchy. It made her think of scales. The hand caressed her again and she couldn’t even shudder as she felt the tips of sharp claws trail over her, scratching the skin from the corner of her eye down her face and over her neck, finally coming to rest lightly clutching her throat. She could feel the pinpricks of the claw tips. She wondered if she were bleeding. She couldn’t tell, she thought you were supposed to be able to tell…
“You’re such a treat, my dear. Your fear is so delicious! Isn’t it exciting, not knowing what’s going to happen next? Doesn’t it just make you feel so alive? Spontaneity, my dear! Chaos running like ice through your veins! Anything is possible, nothing is forbidden!”
She felt the bed shift as the intruder got off. He was leaving! Thank God!
That’s why his voice, whispered directly in her ear, was the shock that pushed her past terror into that calm place on the other side, where the fear is so great you just wait for the inevitable, like the proverbial rabbit staring into the eyes of the snake.
“Go to sleep, little human. You’re about to experience the ultimate impossibility. When you wake up nothing will ever be the same again.”
Teagan felt herself falling into blackness even as she desperately tried to stay wake.