Chapter 1. The travel begins.
As John started to make his luggage, he hummed happily his favorite song. He had planned this for weeks... nay, for months! He studied and worked hardly to maintain himself for the past three years. It was just fair that he took a week of vacations at least once in a while. Studying and working at the same time was hard work... and a very tiring job.
In time, he had even bought his own house. Nothing too luxurious. Just a humble house which had one room, which he used as a bedroom, his kitchen, his hall, his laundry, and everything else. On the far corner of his room, stood his work station, along with his laptop. Next to it was his mini-kitchen. At the other side of the room stood the door to his bathroom. Next to it, his wardrobe, where stood four or five changes of clothes, now deposited on his luggage.
Once that all was deposited safely on his luggage, he took his phone, his keys, his wallet and his glasses. Once he put his jacket on, he turned to the door, luggage behind him, and closed the door.
Outside, his car stood in the parking place of the road. He took out his keys and pressed the button to open his car.
"Good morning, John!" John turned to see one of his neighbors greeting him. She was wiping the dried leaves off of her garden.
"Morning, mrs. Hamilton. How you doing?" John greeted her with his usual charming tone.
"Doing fine, thanks to Lord." Mrs. Hamilton then noted the luggage he was carrying. "Taking some vacations, I see."
"Yeah. Thought it was time to get a rest from the school, the work. Also, it's gonna be fun to stay away from all those things for a while." John said while putting his luggage in the back seat.
"Well, you work so hard all the days. As you said, it's fair that you take a rest. It was time, too. Have a nice trip." She said while returning to wiping the leaves.
"Thanks. Say hello to your husband for me!" John said while getting on his car.
Once he started the engine, he noted that the gas deposit was almost empty. So, his first stop was going to be Ray's gas shop.
He didn't like that much to go there. Everybody, including himself, thought that old Raymond was crazy. But he was the only one that had a gas shop in there.
Once that the light sign got into sight, he started to slow down.
"Oh, great." He said as the silhouette of the old Raymond showed behind the dispenser. Once that he fully stopped, the man stepped next to his window.
"Hey there, welcome to Ray's pit stop." The man greeted without turning to see who he was greeting.
"Hello, mr. Ray. I'd like you to fill it, please."
"Why, it's my very dear customer, mr. John himself." The old man said at the time he took the hose and put it into the deposit. Once that it was fully done, he noticed the luggage on the back seat. "Oh, so the youn' fella wants to be out for a while, huh?"
"Yeah. I've been planning this for weeks."
"And where are you going, buddy?"
"To the mountains. There's a town in there. I've heard it's a very quiet town."
"Good election, buddy. And what way, if I may ask, are ya gonna take? huh?"
Before answering, John took out a map of the land, inspecting every possible way.
"I think that I'll take the forest's road. It's the most direct one." John said while folding the map again and turning to see old Ray. However, when he turned to see him, he didn't expect to see the old man staring at him with fear. After a few seconds, the man leaned to him with a serious expression on his face.
"Buddy, you don't wanna go through there, believe me."
"Why not? It's the fastest way to reach my destiny."
"Because today it's covered by clouds!" John turned to see the sky. As the old man said, it was cloudy.
"So?"
"So... If you go through there, you might find... her."
The hose suddenly stopped pumping, signalling John that he could leave.
"How much is it going to be?"
"thirty-five bucks."
"There you go."
After handling the money to the old Ray, John started the engine of his car. Just as he put his seat belt, old Ray put his head at the side of John's.
"I'm warning you..." old Ray whispered into John's ear. "I can't deny you the access to that forest... But if you enter... you might not get out of there alive." Just as he whispered the last sentence, the old man retreated with the money.
"Hey, Ray." The old man turned at the mention of his name. "You know. I didn't want to believe the others who live in here. The stuff about you being the crazy guy... But I'm sure now." He said as he put the first velocity. "You're crazy, old man."
And with that, John sped his car and got away from the shop. The old man just watched as he got far.
"I really tried to warn you."
"Last night... I had a dream about you... In this dream... I'm dancing right beside you..." John sang at the same tame the song played on his radio. Driving through that way was relaxing, to say at least. However, what old Ray said kept annoying him.
"Oh, come on, John. Don't listen to him. He's definitely the most craziest man you've ever met." John said to himself as he soon saw the intersection in the road. To the left, went the way through a quiet field. To the right... it went through the forest.
John slowed down, trying to decide which way to take. Suddenly, an idea formed on his mind.
"Why am I doubting?" And with that, he drove to the right way. Suddenly, the words of old Ray returned to his mind once again.
"But if you enter... you might not get out of there alive"
"Pfft. Yeah, sure." He chuckled as he drove deeper into the forest.
Suddenly, he started to notice that the forest was covered by a dense fog. John turned on the fog lights on his car, pretty sure that they would be useful. And it worked. He could see at least 15 feet forward.
However, after a while, he started to feel like if something wes watching him over. John turned to see on his mirror and saw nothing, while at the sides of the road only trees could be seen.
"Come on, John. You're being paranoid. Relax." John said as he kept driving forward. Suddenly, he started to note that the light outside seemed to become dimmer and dimmer, like if the forest was closing above him. Soon, the only lights on the road were the ones of his car.
After a few minutes, the road just kept and kept, making John uneasy.
"Alright. Maybe you took a wrong turn, John. Let's check the map." He said as he slowed down and drove to the side of the way. Taking out his map, he started to check the way. Still mumbling to himself, trying to discover where he was, a chill suddenly ran through his spine.
"Uhggh! That felt odd." He said as he kept eyeing his map. Suddenly, he felt like if someone was really watching him. Turning his eyes forward, he couldn't see anything. The fog was too dense to see something 3 feet away. The sudden feeling of seeing something walking outside sent chills through his spine. Picking up his flashlight, he opened the door.
Almost instantly, a sudden feeling of uneasiness filled him, as he felt something around there. Turning on his flashlight, he started to look around.
"Hello! ... Is somebody there!? ...Hope nobody answers..."
Suddenly, the fog cleared a bit, allowing him to see a few feet away. In a hill at the other side of the road, he saw a figure standing in there. Thanks to the fog, he couldn't quite see what it was. He could see just a shadow.
The shadow seemed like quadruped, almost resembling to a horse. Though, it seemed smaller. John, led by curiosity, started to walk toward the figure. The figure seemed to note him approaching and simply turned around and ran.
"Hey! Wait!" John said as he started to run behind it. When he reached the end of the hill, he noted that there wasn't any sign or track as for where the figure seemed to vanish.
John only sighed as he started to walk back to his car. It was then that his flashlight started to fail.
"Oh, come on! Work, you piece of junk!" John said as he hit it multiple times before the flashlight suddenly flashed well. Grunting in approval, he turned to head for his car, when suddenly a pink face with a smile that sent shivers through his spine, along with a pair of eyes that only had two pins as pupils surprised him.
"Do you wanna have a party?" The face said, scaring John more than anything else, making him to trip backwards.
Recovering immediately, he got on his feet as fast as he could, holding his flashlight closely. Turning around frantically he couldn't see the same pink face of before. That leaved him confused.
"You're becoming more paranoid than before, John. Relax." He said to himself before turning back to his car.
Once aboard, he started the engine and sped up. That forest was making him uneasy, and he needed to get out of that forest as fast as he could.
As he sped up, he started to unfold the map in the steering wheel, trying to find where he was. Eyeing the map for a second, and then seeing the road in front of him, he started to speed up. Even with the fog lights on, he could only see a good ten feet away.
Just as he started to identify where he was, he suddenly, turned his head to the road in front of him. Suddenly, the same figure than before became visible in the road. In the middle of the road.
Seeing it just one second before hitting it, John reacted as fast as he could and turned the wheel as fast as he could. Opening his eyes for a moment, he saw the figure turning it head to watch as the vehicle got out of the road.
"Oh, shit!" John said as he saw that the road was missing, and he was trying desperately to direct the car in the correct direction.
However, it seemed of no use as a tree soon came into sight. All what John could do was to cover his face and close his eyes for the incoming impact.
Everything went black, as he could only hear the loud crashing noise of the front part of his car hitting against a tree.
Just as he started to open his eyes, the sky came into view. It still was covered by dense clouds, making the sun to be barely seen behind them. John coughed as he started to get up. Soon, his car came into view. The front part of the vehicle was completely destroyed. But what caught his attention was that the pilot's door was open.
Somebody got him out of there.
Turning around, he saw the forest still covered in dense fog, with nobody in sight.
"Hello!? Anybody there!?" He expected an answer. "I just wanted to thank the one who got me out of there!"
"You're welcome!" Suddenly, a cheery voice startled him. Turning around, he couldn't see anyone.
"umm... Who said that?"
"Well, me, silly!"
John suddenly noted that the voice was coming from behind him. Turning around slowly, he caught a sight of a pink horse standing in front of him. Though the pink color was something weird, he didn't payed much attention to it.
"Umm... Please, show yourself! I just want to talk!"
Suddenly, the horse started to walk toward him.
"Well, I'm right here, you silly! Unless I wanted to play hide and seek, which wouldn't be fair because I haven't hide and you can see me. But as we aren't playing hide and seek, then there is no reason for me to hide. If you wanna talk, I'm right here!"
John's eyes widened at what happened. The horse... spoke to him.
"... You... can... talk?"
"Of course! Everypony in here can talk! I can talk, my friends can talk, cows talks... heck! Even dragons can talk!" The pony in front of him said while jumping excitedly on the same place.
John just stood in there, watching the pink pony in front of him.
"Ugh... I must have received a very harsh hit in the head."
"Yeah, actually! You were bleeding when I got you out."
John suddenly lifted a hand to feel his head. Confirming what the pink pony said, he felt a bandage around his head.
"... Umm... thanks, then... for helping me."
"No problem!"
John, though puzzled about what was going on, just seemed to have one option.
"Umm... Hey, do you know where I am?"
"Umm... Nope. Now that you mention it, I don't have the slightest idea of where I am. Though, I did see a road over there." The pink pony said while pointing with a hoof to a random direction in the forest. "I think there's some kind of city over there."
"Huh. The map didn't mention anything about a city in the middle of the forest."
"Duh! Of course not, silly! Otherwise, it wouldn't be a secret place, right?"
"Secret? What do you mean?"
"Can't tell you! But it's the only place where you can go. The other road is up there." The pony said while pointing toward the upper part of a cliff.
"I suppose you're right... umm... what's your name?"
"I'm Pinkie Pie! Pleased to meet you!"
"I'm John. Pleased to meet you, too." John said while turning toward the forest. "So... I suppose I better start walking." John said as he started pick up his flashlight and his map and started to walk into the forest.
"That's the spirit! Good luck!"
"What do you mean by 'good luck'? You're not coming with... me?" John said as he turned to look for her. Suddenly, as he turned, he noticed that Pinkie was gone.
"Maybe it was an illusion?" John asked to himself as he started to walk deeper into the forest.
In the distance, the same figure of before showed in the top of a hill, watching intently as the human walked away. A smile on its face showed up, as the figure started to trot after him.