"Good night Tori." Tor's mom, Lota Luck said as she pulled the covers over her filly. "Night mommy!" said Tor.
Her mom blew out the candle.
Tor opened her eyes. "I don't think I'm in bed any more!" she said.
True that was. in the distance the shadow of a mare stood.
"Execsues me? Do you know where i am?" Tor asked.
Tor woke up.
“What a strange dream.” She pondered aloud.
She got out of bed and went to her window. It was still night outside. Tor yawned before climbing back into bed but then heard a strange song. It was coming from outside. Tor thought Eh, must be my imagination getting the best of me. She went back to sleep.
When Tor woke up she went straight downstairs.
“Morning” Her father , Coin-Lucky, said.
“Did you remember to study for your math quiz today?” Asked Tor’s mom.
“Yes mom.” Tor lied.
“Remember to turn in your homework!” Tor’s older sister, Dona said “I forgot to turn in mine and the teacher gave me a slapping.” Dona flipped through a biology book.
“I’ll remember.” Promised Tor as she grabbed her saddle bag.
“Listen to this.” Tor’s dad said as he got the news paper from the paper colt.
“Last night 20 foals gone missing. Killed or kidnapped?”
“Not in front of Tori!” Tor’s mom said.
“Hey. Isn’t Pip Squeak that transfer student from ponyville thats in Tor’s class?” Asked Tor’s father.
“I `think so!” Said Tor’s mom astonished. “But he’s a friend of Tori’s! This isn’t appropriate for an eight year old!”
Tor’s mom finished packing Tor’s lunch and gave it to Tor.
“If you leave now for school you’ll get an extra 7 minutes of morning free time at school.” Tor’s mom said opening the door and Tor started off for school.
“Have you heard about that newspaper article that made the front page?” Asked Roxie, Tor’s best friend, on there way to school.
“The one about those foals that went missing?” Asked Tor.
“Of course that one! I heard from my mom that 7 of them are from our grade!” Roxie said.
“My mom doesn’t want me knowing about this stuff.” Said Tor.
“Well then your mom’s keeping you from knowing the good stuff. It will be the talk of the talk with the gossip group. Not like it won't be the cat’s pajamas of the school! The teachers might faint from fear of the missing foals! Won’t that be funny?” Asked Roxie as they entered the courtyard.
“Yeah... Funny.” Said Tor not really thinking it would be funny at all.
“I know! Just think. If someone could find them they'd be superstars!” Roxy's eyes lit up.
“They’d get a lot of money too!” She squealed.
Tor wasn't paying attention to her friend as Roxie continuously ranted about what would happen if someone found the foals.
She was focusing on the song she heard before she went to bed last night.
“And the only clue they have is soundtrack of a song that supposedly played around midnight!” Roxie said.
“What!?” Said Tor.
“They kidnapped that colt that I like like?” Said Roxie.
“No after that!” Said Tor.
“The colt is the most handsome ever?”
“After that!” Tor groaned.
“He i- Hey! Don’t you get any ideas! Pip is my true love. Not yours! Keep your hooves off of him! He’s mine!” Roxie ranted.
“No. The par- Never mind. You're impossible.” Grunted Tor and walked off towards a 6th grader called Shine Smile who was Tor’s 2nd best friend.
“What’s up?” Asked Shine Smile.
“Oh, nothing much. Roxie isn’t really helping with the big news that made the head liner.” Said Tor
“The usual I see.” Shine Smile joked.
Shine Smile was a pink pegasus with a purple mane and tail.
“Anyways Kiddo. I’m coming over to babysit Tuesday night!” Shine Smile said.
“Yes!” Tor said, jumping in the air.“What are you doing for math class today? My class is doing a big quiz!”
“Wow! That’s really cool! I bet you're gonna ace it Kiddo!” Shine Smile said.
“Remember when we made nicknames for each other? Mine was Kiddo and your’s was Shine Smile and now you go by Shine Smile!” Tor said with pride.
“Yeah. Cadence always was a boring name.” Shine Smile rolled her eyes.
“We used to play princess and you'd be Princess Cadence and I’d be Princess Tori!” Tor said fondly. “You really do look like a princess though. A bit like Celestia!” Said Tor, lying down in the grass.
“Oh don’t flatter me!” Shine Smile said as she lay down next to Tor on the grass.
The two friends chatted for awhile until the bell rang.
“See you tomorrow!” Shine Smile said fondly.
“See you after school!” Tor corrected her role model.
“Okay!” Shine Smile said, disappearing into the stampede of ponies on there way in.
“Okay.” Tor said happily before skipping off.
After school...
The two fillies walked down the street to Roxie’s house.
“You failed your math quiz? But you're the biggest brainiac I know!” Roxie said in surprise. “Anywho. Thats not important! I’ll tell you what is. The gossip girls talked to me! I have a chance of getting into there group! No offence but soon I’ll have new best friends. You might want to join the mathletes. You might have a chance of getting new friends.”
“Well, thats okay. If you do join I’ll be really happy for you. You’ll get to be in with the ‘big league’ like you've always wanted to and you’ll be able to talk with people who can sometimes understand you and you can sometimes understand them. Besides. I’ll always have Shine Smile as a best friend. I’ll be fine.” Tor tried to assure her friend.
“What a loser. I can’t believe I took pity on her.” muttered Roxy under her breath.
That night Tor had the dream again.
“Why do I keep coming to this place in my dreams?” Tor asked the mare.
The mare turned around. She wore armor and was pitch black. “You will find out in time... Wake to the song my child.” The mare touched her horn to Tor’s head and Tor woke up in bed.
The song played loud and clear in Tor’s head. It called her to the street but Tor just hid under the covers.
“Mom. I’ve been getting this dream.” Said Tor in the morning.
“Mhm.” Tor’s mom said, turning the page of the newspaper the following day.
“I keep seeing this mare.” Began Tor.
“Yes... hmm.” Tor’s mom grunted.
“She wears this... nevermind what she wears!” Tor said shaking her head.
“Oh! Half of at that fancy restaurant for there 5th anniversary!” Tor’s mom said with surprise.
“MOM!” Tor yelled angrily.
“Quiet now Tori. I need to make a reservation at your aunt's favorite restaurant. Maybe for our anniversary...” Muttered Tor’s mom.
“NO ONE EVER LISTENS TO ME!” Tor ranted.
“So. Mummy ignoring you.” Dona said at lunch.
“Yeah. Why doesn’t she understand how important my dream is?” Groaned Tor.
“Ask her when she gets here.” Dona muttered while reading a new issue of a magazine.
“You know... I haven't seen Roxie at school today. Nor her cousins, Fleet Wing and Krizzy Kized.”
“Eh, who cares. Anywho. This article really doesn’t help. It’s telling me that I’m ugly!” Dona growled “Oh right. In two minutes you have to go back to school for afternoon session. Maybe you’ll find you’re friends then.”
“Class. I have bad news to tell you. The foals from the Flashy family are missing. Roxie, Fleet Wing, Krizzy Kized, Stamp and Twirly Swirly.” The teacher said.
“Roxie? NO! She’s my best friend! She can’t be missing!” Gasped Tor with worry.
“It’s okay.” The colt next to Tor said.
“No! It’s not!” Tor yelled back.
“Stop this at once!” The teacher yelled walking up to her “For that outburst I want you to go to the principal's!”
“Why should I go to the principal's office?” Muttered Tor as she packed her saddle bag.
“My friends are going missing and I’m just standing around!” Tor wrapped up her sleeping bag.
“I need to take charge!” Tor decided as she put on her saddlebag.
When she got downstairs Tor wrote a note on the back of the grocery list:
Running away.
I don’t feel safe with children going missing.
I’m going to find a safer home.
Tori
Tor had been walking for almost an hour now.
It would be midnight soon.
Then the Song would play.
It always came from outside.
What happened to the foals that were outside?
Tor didn’t want to find out.
“Someplace safe someplace safe” She muttered looking for shelter.
Tor could hide under a carriage. But she’d still be out in the street.
Go in someone’s house. If they saw Tor they could think she was a thief and hurt her.
Tor was running out of time and started to shuffle her hooves nervously. Then there was the first bell.
No! She thought. I’m almost out of time!
Bong! ten more strokes and I’ll be done for!
Bong!
Tor ran around in a frenzy
Bong!
She decided to take her chances with someone else’s house
Bong!
She tried the first knob.
It was locked.
Bong!
six more left! she thought and began to sweat.
Bong!
She tried the next knob
Bong!
Everyone must be worrying that what got the children will get them
Bong!
Only three more till my doom! She thought.
Bong!
“Help! Help!” She cried. Knocking on the door with all her might.
Bong!
“This is it...” Tor said in defeat.
BONG!
Then there it was.
The Song.