//------------------------------// // The Travelling Band // Story: Brony Recon: A New Song // by Ykayney //------------------------------// Sam’s POV The sun shone bright and early on to my un-expecting face, waking me almost instantly. “Go away sun” Turning over helped to delay the inevitable which was sped up by the fact I remembered what was coming today. I jumped up, lifting my glasses to my face and stared in Andy’s general direction. Typically he was still asleep. I tried my loud whispering to try and wake him up, but that was unsuccessful. I decided it was time for drastic measures. I grasped the large object nearest me in my hand, lifted it slowly above my head and threw. Time seemed to stand still for a second as the pillow landed straight on to Andy’s face. The silence was soon broken by a fairly loud grunt. A muffled “Buck you!” emanated from beneath the pillow. “Good. You’re up.” I gave a sly smile. Upon getting out of bed, I put on some comfortable clothes and turned on the light, queuing Andy to get up and dressed too. We made our way downstairs to get some breakfast. I had the usual sausage rolls and Andy helped himself to some cereal. It was silent until we had both finished eating. We were the first ones to get up so that didn’t help to get some conversation going. Finally, I heard another noise come from upstairs whilst stroking one of my cats. “Ah, the beast rises.” I said, referring to my mother. Andy giggled in reply. “That isn’t nice.” I just smiled in return and gently nudged the cat off of my lap, deciding that I had better begin packing my bag with things that would keep me occupied. I walked upstairs with Andy tailing, I walked past my mum, who was now fully awake and dressed, greeting her with a ‘good morning’ before continuing on to my room. I pulled out a small drawstring bag from my wardrobe and threw it onto the spare bed. “Hey Andy, could you pass me that sketchbook and the pencil and sharpener near it, please?” I requested pointing to the objects that lay at the bottom of my own bed. Andy walked over and placed them beside me. After placing them inside the bag I walked over to my laptop and began packing it away. “I really hope I end up a unicorn. Otherwise, I better come up with some way to work this thing.” I looked at my microphone for a second, debating whether to pack it away. I decided against it, it cost a lot of money and I don’t fancy like losing it in another world. If I ever return then I can retrieve it, but for now, it stays. “Is that all you’re taking? No clothes?” Andy asked curiously. “Well, we’re not going to need clothes in Equestria are we? Ponies don’t wear clothes. Plus, they wouldn’t fit.” “Yeah, I suppose. I guess we could just buy some new clothes if we needed to.” Time passed quickly during that conversation and I had already packed away my laptop and charger in its bag and was now standing back over by the spare bed in my room. “Time to go get your stuff I guess.” I suggested to Andy. “I don’t really have anything to bring apart from myself. But I need to collect Emily and say goodbye to my parents anyway.” “That you do my friend. That you do.” I turned to my doorway and we made our way back downstairs. After allowing my mother time to finish her coffee we climbed into the car and drove to Andy’s house. He may have lived nearer the coast but it was only a 15 minute drive away from where I lived. >>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< Upon arriving at Andy’s house I had decided that I was going to go and see our friend Scott before we departed, leaving Andy to deal with his family on his own. My two best friends lived incredibly close to each other, literally down the road. It made things quite convenient for times like this. I opened the gate that led up to the large glass door of Scott’s house. I knocked gently and I saw him appear from the side as he rose from his sofa and he slid open the door. “Sam? What are you doing here?” he had a puzzled look on his face. “We’re bringing Andy back home for a bit. I thought I would come by to say ‘hi’, well ‘bye’ actually. Mind if I come in? I have some things to explain.” Andy’s POV I didn’t know how I would break it to my parents. I was supposed to just tell them where I was going, but would they believe me? Even if they did, would they let me go so easily? I decided to speak to my sister first. After walking upstairs and opening the living room door I motioned to Emily to follow me. She got up out of the computer chair and followed me downstairs to my room. I shut my door after we entered so I could explain the situation. >>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< “You don’t believe me, do you Em?” “I want to, but it just seems silly.” She sounded so confused and slightly upset. “You get to come too you know.” I smiled to her. Emily’s face lit up quite a bit at this statement. The smile dissipated for a second as she looked to the floor in thought. “Are you going to tell Mum and Dad?” “Of course I was, smelly. I wanted to let you know first.” I walked over to my door to let my sister out, I followed closely behind. “Well, here goes.” I opened the living room door and asked for my parents to sit down so I could explain things. Sam’s POV “So, you’re actually going to Equestria? To live, as a pony?” I haven’t seen Scott act like this in forever. “Yes. That would be correct.” “I take it I can’t join you guys.” “Sorry, no. Only we’re allowed to participate.” I felt genuinely sorry, but it was the truth. I felt we had already caused some hassle by having Emily allowed to join us. I could see a tiny bit of sadness in Scott’s eyes. After talking for a little while more about we hugged and said goodbye. Although I never looked back, I could tell that he didn’t close the door until after I had closed the tall, wooden gate behind me. On the way back to Andy’s house all I could think about was how Scott must be feeling. We were like brothers and now I’m going away with a possibility of never seeing him again. I decided to wait in the car with my mum whilst we waited for Andy to finish up. My favourite album was playing with my favourite song, Homecoming by Green Day. The whole album seemed like it told a story, a story I could vividly picture every time I listened to the album in full. I have always been quite an emotional person and this is one of the things that could show that side of me. As the song neared its final part Andy appeared from around the corner followed by his sister, Emily. They climbed into the car and belted up. I was the first to speak. “Everything go all right then?” “Surprisingly, yes.” Andy sounded very happy, I’m not surprised either considering what was about to happen. >>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< I told my mum to pull over at the entrance of an alleyway that allowed a shortcut to the woods. The three of us bronies left the vehicle and began our short walk to the entrance of the woods. As we approached, we were stopped in our tracks by a whispering voice. “Psst! Hey, over here. To the left, just walk.” The mysterious voice coaxed us towards it. As we turned the corner we noticed that the person who had called us over was a man, about our height wearing a grey t-shirt and blue jeans. I forced the other two to stop as I realised I didn’t recognise this person. “Don’t worry, it’s me, Markus.” “Markus? You were a pony last time we saw you.” I said, pointing out the obvious. “Yes, I was. We had problems when I was ponyfied, so they hesitated changing me back into a human.” He gave a reassuring smile and then he spotted Emily closely packed to Andy. “Ah, you must be Emily. Nice to meet you.” Emily, being a shy person returned a ‘hello’ that was only audible as a high pitched squeal. “So Markus.” I began. “You said that you had pre-arranged transport. Where is it?” “I am over here. IT is in there. Sorry about that.” A strange man appeared from a bush behind Markus. He was wearing a brown patterned suede jacket, complete with smart trousers, a white shirt, suspenders and a bow tie. “And, who are you?” I was as confused as the other two at this point, everything seemed to be so surreal. “You can call me the Doctor. Now, are we going to leave soon? I don’t want wildlife to begin growing around the TARDIS. It can get very messy.” The man now known as the Doctor walked off whilst still mumbling to himself giving a little shudder as he entered the woods. We followed Markus in the same direction that the Doctor went to see a blue police box in front of us to which the Doctor was walking around checking for any attached wildlife. “This is getting a bit surreal.” Andy broke his silence. “First, an invitation to go to Equestria, and now we have just met the Doctor. I don’t even.” I took the opportunity that Markus was giving us by looking around outside the woods to talk to the Doctor. “So, I have to ask. Are you the real Doctor? Like the one in the Doctor Who show?” “Yep, that’s me! Well, kind of. Technically the one in the show is an actor, completely human.” One thing I had noticed, was that the show was incredibly accurate in the way he spoke. “Okay, everything checks up good!” Markus called over. “Let’s get ‘em in and we can be off.” The Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS and we all walked inside. Even though I knew what to expect, seeing with my own eyes that the ship was bigger on the inside was completely mind blowing. The three of us stood near the doorway staring in awe at the beauty of the ships interior. “Okay, is everyone ready? We’ll be taking off as soon as I flick this switch.” I had been so caught up in admiring the TARDIS that I had been oblivious to the Doctor rushing around the centre console. “We’re ready when you are!” I called across, which was replied by a smile from the Doctor as he threw the switch. I’m going to admit, it was a rather anticlimactic experience. The TARDIS made struggling sounds and then the central spire powered down. “What’s happened?” Markus had a look that displayed growing panic. “Come on girl, what’s up?” The Doctor spoke to himself but stopped suddenly as he flicked on the camera screen. “Ah, there’s our problem.” I walked over to the screen to see what the fuss was about and what I saw next must have been one of the most unexpected things I had seen all day. There was an eye, staring directly into the camera. I decided to take the initiative and I ran over to the door, opening it and then looking around the left side of the TARDIS. What I saw shocked me. Scott was there, hanging on to the side of the TARDIS. “Scott?! What are you doing here?!” “You know this person?” asked Markus in an annoyed voice as he joined me outside. “His name is Scott. One of my best friends and he’s about to explain what he’s doing here.” Scott climbed off the side of the TARDIS. “I couldn’t let you go. Not without me. You’re like a brother to me Sam. If you’re going to Equestria then I want to come too!” I had never seen Scott like this before, a single tear trickled down his cheek. I stayed silent and looked over to Markus. Markus stood, thinking hard for a moment until he finally spoke. “Fine. Scott, you may join your friends for the Exodus Equestria project. You’ve come so far and know so much that it only seems fair.” The softness of the moment was shattered to pieces as the Doctor poked his head through the door. “Can we go yet? There’s some fish fingers and custard back at the warehouse just screaming my name.” After he pulled himself back through we waited a moment before all bursting out into laughter. Back inside the TARDIS, Andy had sat down keeping his sister company, assuring that everything was going to be okay. Being very timid and shy, Emily wasn’t going to take a long time from home too well. Myself and Scott took a seat next to Andy as the Doctor readjusted his settings, and without warning the ship began to make loud noises of machinery moving as well as the famous scratching sound. I didn’t expect it to be a smooth ride, but then again, I didn’t expect it to be this rough. At one point, I found that I had been grabbed by the arm to stop me falling onto the floor. This went on for a couple of minutes until all went silent. The Doctor strode over to the door and opened it, holding out his arms in an inviting manner. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have arrived.”