• Published 25th Apr 2012
  • 3,915 Views, 267 Comments

Wilmont - gmen15



A RealityXMLP crossover with 6 teenage boys in the fictional town of Wilmont, New York.

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Meet the Bronies and Tara

Chapter 1: Meet the Bronies & Tara

Wilmont- June 2012 (2 Years Later)

The sun hung high in the beautiful, spring afternoon in Wilmont. Birds sand their cheerful melodies, the wind passed through the leaves as they emitted a soft, soothing rattle. Everything was so at peace, that even a passing SUV and it's monstrous engine that rivaled the roar of a dragon couldn't break it.

"Hey man, can you open a window? I'm baking back here!" James Carson complained, leaning his head against the seat, his long, black hair pressed up against the leather headrest. His feet were propped onto the passenger-side seat and his eyes were gazing out of the window, the forests of oak and maple they drove past reduced to a blur of green and brown.

"Open it yourself, you have hands don't you?" The driver, Ryan Davis, hissed. He was agitated that James had to ask for something he could easily do himself.

"I've already tried that." James muttered, pressing the window-opening button a few times to emphasize his point. "It's not working."

"Then just turn the air conditioner on! Jesus Christ James, it isn't brain surgery." Ryan said, peering back at James through the rear-view mirror. His eyes hidden behind a pair of shades. His short, spiked dirty blonde hair reflecting sunlight that crept into the car through the windshield. With Ryan's eyes hidden, James wasn't exactly sure if he was being serious or picking on him. Either way, James took the initiative and decided to prod his friend, seeing how much he could annoy him.

"Nah man, that's bad for the environment." He snickered. "Unlike you, I actually care for the welfare of our planet."

Ryan had to do everything in his power not to face-palm. "Ugh, come on James. Could you stop with your hippie bullshit for one day? Please? Just one day, that's all I'm asking."

"Why, because it annoys your conservative ass? Tough shit, it's not my fault you're the spawn of the white upper class." James laughed a bit, never taking his eyes away from the passing forests.

"Oh so we're stereotyping now based on political beliefs? All right then, I can play at that game too, " Ryan said, clearing his throat. "You are a pot-smoking, socialist hippie and an agnostic ass-hole that would probably be more willing to worship the trees than God. How's that for a stereotype liberal-boy?"

James flipped Ryan the bird before he turned his attention back to the world outside, laughing a little.

While this was going on, the third was silently sitting in the passenger seat, his arms crossed and his eyes staring straight ahead. Like Ryan and James, Carl Lewis was seventeen years old. He had dirt-brown hair and- save for his violet eyes- he looked like the most average teenage boy imaginable He didn't take his eyes off of the road, even as his friends "argued". He put his hand up to shield his eyes from the rays of sun that shone into the car.

Ryan saw this and laughed haughtily, "Hey Carl, I can see you squinting. You should've worn sunglasses, man."

A small smile crept onto Carl's face. "I don't let a little sunlight get in my way. I'm a strong-willed individual that isn't afraid to face what's in front of him."

Ryan raised an eye-brow. "So in order to metaphorically prove a point about blinding oneself from reality or some pretentious bullshit, you're willing to literally blind yourself?"

Carl didn't answer immediately. He pondered the question before finally giving Ryan a small, nonchalant shrug. "I guess you can say that."

He couldn't help but smirk at his pretentious, empty bullshit statement. He knew very well that's all it was. Just a statement he said in order to act smarter than he really was.

"Why are you so rebellious anyway?" James asked, still in a relaxed sitting position. His hands behind his head like he was lounging on the beach.

Carl, once again, shrugged. "I just don't give a shit what people think. I am who I am. "

Carl then turned his attention to the radio, which was currently playing some rap song. He groaned, very turned off by that genre of music. In fact, he often distanced himself from most modern music and would prefer older bands like Rush and KISS, much like Ryan. Out of the trio, James was the one who usually like rap and hip-hop. But he did like rock as well. For instance, when he was drunk he would, for a reason unknown even to himself, have the desire to belt out KISS songs at top volume.

"Hey Ryan, do you mind if I change the station to something a better than rap?" Carl asked, pointing to the radio.

"Go right ahead man, I hate this shit anyway. There are only so many songs about banging women and shooting cops that I can take in one sitting."

Carl flipped to the rock station just as "Limelight" began to play. Both Ryan and Carl began to sing, Carl even adding some air-drumming to match up Neil Pert's rhythm. As he watched his friends start to rock out, James let out a groan and pulled out his iPod.

"Look, not that you two don't sound like angels," James said with pure sarcasm as he put his earphones into his ears. "But I prefer listening to real singers, if you don't mind."

James pressed "play" and proceeded to listen to his iPod, specifically the very same type of rap Carl and Ryan denounced moments before.

Ryan turned his attention back to the road, humming along to the song without getting distracted. Carl watched the different small businesses pass by, each with their own specific place in his memories, even if he never actually went inside. Just seeing the shops often brought on a wave of nostalgia.

One shops in particular grabbed Carl's attention.

"Courtie's Magic Shop" was the local magic shop that Carl worked at until he was twelve. Even though most businesses had a minimum age requirement of fourteen, Mr. Courtie was able to hire Carl at age ten since he only had to sweep, organize the shop, and watch the old man perform spectacular magic tricks. Tricks that were sometimes too spectacular.

He used to be so fascinated with the idea of magic and accomplishing the impossible, even going so far as to stay at work late to have Mr. Courtie give him lessons. But, as with everyone, he eventually "outgrew" the "childish" passion for magic, and began to lose the sense of wonder that it had once provided. It was just caused by a much more painful event for Carl than for most people.

In fact, his loss of childhood innocence was lost in the single most painful moment in Carl's life.

He watched as the middle-aged Mr. Courtie cleaned his store window with the same dirty old rag that he's used for years. The sunlight reflected off of the clear glass as it became cleaner, even with the filthy method of cleaning it. Mr. Courtie turned around to look at Carl. He gave a small smile and waved to him. Carl, in turn, returned a small wave of his own. But it was very unenthusiastic and cold.

The High School was just outside of the village on one side, while the mall was situated on the other. After passing all of the shops and going past the mall and school, Ryan drove towards the local park.

Wilmont Park was very beautiful for the months of March through October. Any other time, as with the rest of Upstate New York, Wilmont was a terrible mix of snow, grey, and gloominess that would make the most optimistic residents feel depressed.

Carl watched as some kids, most likely between the age of ten and twelve, played a soccer game on one of the large sports' fields. He smiled as his mind filled with the nostalgia of his childhood, watching as one of the players began to sprint down the sideline before getting slide-tackled by a player on the opposing team.

Because the mall, school and park were in a triangle shape in relation to each other, each side of the imaginary triangle being about a mile and a half long, it was often called the "Holy Trinity" by the local teens. School was for "profession", the mall was for lazy recreation, and the park was activity. In other words, the three main things that dominate teenage life.

After about two more minutes of driving down the street, Ryan pulled into a neighborhood. He stopped the car in front of Carl's red house. Carl nodded to them and opened the passenger-side door to get out.

"All right boys, I'll see you at the party tonight."

"Wait, I thought I was driving?" Ryan asked, "I mean; I'm the only one of us who isn't going to be shit-faced."

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Carl thought for a moment before responding. "Come back here in about an hour I'll be ready to go, I just need to eat dinner and get changed." Carl thought for a second before he continued, "actually the party's just down the street, I could walk there."

"Nah man, I'll give you a lift." Ryan said with a friendly smile.

Carl nodded, "Thanks dude, I'll see you in a little bit."

He shut the door and started up to his house.

Once Carl reached the door he knocked and waited for someone to answer. As he waited, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in one of the small windows that bordered the door. He looked at his eyes, his expressive, violet eyes that had always made him a target for verbal abuse at school and in public.

What guy had violet eyes? Hell, what person had violet eyes? It was just bizarre, almost unheard of outside of cartoons or other works of fiction. His classmates made sure to remind him of this anomaly, through the constant verbal abuse and occasional physical they laid on him for having "girly eyes".

As Carl thought about his eye color, the front door to his house opened up. Carl's mother, Lauren stood in the doorway with a warm smile. She had hair that was brunette, borderline red, and she had shining blue eyes.

"Good to see that you're home." She said. "How was your last day of school?"

"We came, we saw, we conquered." Carl said, slipping into the house. "Typical, except less work and more goofing off."

Lauren looked outside, watching as Ryan's car drove off down the street before she walked back into the house and turned to her son, "Where did you and your friends go?"

"The mall." Carl answered.

Lauren shut the door behind him and went back to the kitchen as Carl kicked off his shoes and walked sock-footed into the house. The inside was modest, nothing too over the top, but at the same time it was quaint. It may not have been a mansion, but it was still a nice place to live.

Carl then followed Lauren into the dining area of the kitchen where his two sisters were already eating. Lisa, Carl's nine-year-old sister, was the older and more rebellious of the two. In fact, Carl saw her as a "smart-ass" who acted pretty old for her age.

Anna, at age six, was the younger one. The only word that could describe her personality would be "innocent". Carl sat down in the seat next to Lisa. Lauren came back to the table with a plate of fish and broccoli, which she set down in front of Carl. He looked at what food he had been offered and grumbled. He hated fish, especially white fish, like the haddock that was on the plate in front of him.

"Ah, fish and broccoli, it is a truly winning combination." he muttered sarcastically.

"It is if you're planning to lead a long, healthy life." Lauren said as she walked out of the kitchen, leaving Carl with his two sisters.

When Lauren was gone, Lisa leaned towards Carl. "If this is what's needed for a healthy life, then sign me up for obesity and a hospital room."

Carl chuckled before he begrudgingly began the task of eating the bland, yet healthy meal. Anna finished most of what was on her plate as Lisa did soon after. They both got up to clean their plates in the sink, which was piled up with plates that had not yet been washed.

"Hey Carl are you going to that party tonight? The one everyone in the High School was talking about." Anna asked, her innocent face beaming at Carl.

"Yeah, Ryan's coming to pick me up in an hour."

"Does mom know you're going?"

"Yes she does," Carl said before lowering the tone of his voice to just above a whisper, "but what I do there is something she'll never know, understand?"

"You mean getting plastered?" Lisa laughed as she scrubbed her plate clean with a sponge over the sink water.

"I prefer the term "wasted", but whatever floats your boat." Carl said as he finished the last of his fish and walked over to the sink. "Besides, I really don't even get "wasted"; I just get a little tipsy. If I have more than two beers in one sitting I feel like shit the next morning."

"So you set a limit?"

"Actually, I think of it more like a "vow"."

"Yeah sure, in the same way Anna "vowed" never to swim in our pool again after I told her sharks could spontaneously appear in it and eat her? She just got out of the pool today." Lisa smiled and Anna glared at her.

"Hey I remember that! That was a mean for thing to say you...meany. Ugh!" Anna stated in a huff, her arms crossed as she stormed off.

Carl walked over to the sink to clean his plate with a smile on his face, as there was nothing more entertaining than watching his two sisters go at each others' throats like two hungry dogs fighting over a scrap of meat. It was a hilarious sight. As he cleaned his plate, Lisa stood next to him, giving him a sly smirk.

"Carl, did you catch the newest "My Little Pony" episode?" Carl sighed.

"I told you not to bring up that I watch it. You know I'm not proud of it."

"But you do watch it." She said in the know-it-all way that was typical of her before she walked off, leaving an annoyed Carl to finish cleaning his plates by himself.

He sighed and walked upstairs to his room where he shut the door so he could have some alone time for a few minutes before he had to get ready for the party. First thing was first, he grabbed his laptop and flipped it open so he could check his e-mails and Facebook for any new messages, updates, alerts, and other stuff most teenagers do when they're bored out of their minds. He even went to the local news website to read up on the new crimes that were hitting Wilmont.

Something he only did when he was extremely bored.

You see, while Wilmont was the stereotypical, small, American city, it had a very high crime rate; crimes that were committed usually had to do with the huge number of anarchist gangs that called Wilmont home. Regardless, it wasn't that the crimes themselves were out of the ordinary, just the prevalence of them, and for its smaller size, Wilmont was a very dangerous city

After reading up on two new homicides and thoroughly depressing himself into a stupor, Carl decided to surf the web for more entertaining purposes. As he did this, he looked over at a picture of his family that was on his desk. Carl, his mother, his sisters, and his father were all in the image. His face fell to a sad, nostalgic smile as he looked at the image of his father.

About five years before, during a mugging, a gang member shot and killed Carl's father. To make matters worse, it happened right in front of Carl and Lisa, both of whom would never forget the images of their father bleeding out on the sidewalk as their mother sobbed, making a futile attempt to stop the bleeding by pressing her hand to his abdomen.

Ever since, Carl became the father figure of the household, or at least he tried to be. Anna and Lisa didn't really respect him enough to say he accomplished that role. Regardless, he got a job at the local coffee shop to help bring money to the table so his mother wouldn't be alone.

While he was a bit of a realist around those that he cared about, such as his mother and sisters, Carl often found ways to escape his life into fantasies that he wished were real, but deep down knew that they weren't, no matter how much he wished and pleaded he knew nothing would ever come of it.

This was where My Little Pony came in. He first found out that Ryan was a brony while he was going through Ryan's closet to find a shirt that he needed to borrow after a drunken James threw up on him at a party.

As he looked through the messy closet, Ryan was never one for complete organization, he found a t-shirt with Rainbow Dash's cutie mark on it. He immediately recognized it as both Lisa and Anna watched the show every Saturday, which led to him learning about the characters without ever flipping to the Hub.

Not to mention Anna would always be seen playing with her Rainbow Dash figure. It was from this that he learned about Rainbow Dash's cutie mark, the cloud with the lightning-bolt, colored blue, yellow and red. A representation of her talent for extreme speed, as well as her success in performing the sonic rainboom.

Naturally, this humiliated Ryan, who begged Carl to not tell anyone else about it. Carl agreed but kept pressing Ryan to tell him what made him like the show. It was "My Little Pony", after all.

Once he got over his fear, Ryan told Carl how he found out about it from the Internet. After he watched a few episodes,he was hooked. He talked about the quirky story lines, the three-dimensional characters- everything that made the show worth watching. Eventually, he convinced Carl to watch some episodes. Begrudgingly, but deciding to appease his friend, Carl caved and watched the first two episodes, "Friendship is Magic: Parts 1 and 2".

The rest was history.

Since then, he's watched the show to escape from reality. Each time becoming more and more depressed when the episode ended. He always was a bit of a romantic in the sense that he wished for the impossible to happen, much like Ryan was.

He imagined what it would be like if the characters were brought into the real world. More than anything, he wished he could meet Twilight Sparkle because she was his favorite character on the show.

Not only did she have the same eye-color as Carl, but she had the desire to learn that Carl wished he could have. She also had the type of personality that he desired in girls. She was smart, kind, even if a bit neurotic. He sighed and got up to start getting dressed for the party.

James- Caroline's House

"I told you that you don't have to stop by every day." James' cousin Caroline said as she gave her cousin a big smile. Caroline was twelve and had a very beautiful face with big, expressive eyes. All of this stood out on her thin, chemotherapy-effected body.

All of her beautiful brown hair was gone, lost to the treatment, and her skin was pale as skim milk. James was sitting next to her bed in a small, white chair, putting on a hopeful, optimistic smile, even though he was anything but optimistic on the inside.

"Now how can I stay away from such a sweet girl?" James smiled and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. He then leaned back and reached behind the chair he was sitting in, "Besides, I had to make sure you got this."

"What is it?"

James handed her a gift that was wrapped in blue paper. She quickly tore the paper off and once she saw what James had given her, she grinned from ear to ear and covered her mouth as she let out a gasp.

She held up her gift, a t-shirt that had Fluttershy's face on it. The yellow pony giving the cutest smile imaginable.

"Oh my gosh you got me a Fluttershy t-shirt?" James nodded and Caroline leaned over and hugged him. "Thank you so much James."

"Anytime." He put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Listen I have to get going now, but I'll be back again tomorrow."

Caroline nodded happily. James smiled back and hugged her one last time. "Rest up, kiddo."

"I will."

With that, James left and walked out to Ryan, who was waiting for him outside. He was glad he didn't have to go home just yet, as he didn't feel like seeing his parents. They only did two things, work at their respective occupations, and criticize James for every, single thing that he did.

Every day, if he dressed himself they would say he looked like a slob. If he got an A- on a paper, they would be disappointed that it wasn't an A+. If he scored a goal in soccer, they'll tell him how his "amazing", "perfect" brother Patrick scored three against the same team when he was in High School. In conclusion, they were unnecessarily hard on him, to the point where he blocked out whatever they told him.

In all honesty, James only got true enjoyment out of two things. One was seeing Caroline and doing his best to make her day better. The other was My Little Pony, which Caroline got him into.

He watched the show for the first time a few months before during one of his visits to his sickly cousin's house, and loved it almost instantly. He didn't just get into the show because of the story or because he knew how large their teenage, male fan-base was, but because it gave Caroline and him joy, to find something to connect over, to escape the painful hell that both of them lived in.

So whenever he came over to visit, he'd talk about that week's newest episode as well as Fluttershy, their favorite pony in the show, the one that brought them together, and the one that made James have to check himself for signs of diabetes after watching an episode that featured the cute, shy Pegasus.

In the end, it was not just a fun show that brought James back to his child-hood; it also helped him and Caroline find happiness during such a dark time. More than that, it gave happiness to a child whose next day could be her last, and that is what James appreciated more than anything.

Ryan

Ryan waited in his car for James to get done with Caroline. He sighed as he listened to some more rock music on the radio. His arm was hanging out of the open window and he was biting his thumbnail in impatience as he listened to the epicness that was "Back in Black".

He lowered the visor and opened the small mirror that was in it before he removed his glasses to look at the bruised eye that it concealed from the others. The swelling wasn't too great, but the black and blue coloration was all the evidence that was needed to prove the validity of the confrontation Ryan had earlier that day with the school bully.

Ryan was a rich kid- at least according to everyone at school. His father was a well-respected doctor at Wilmont General Hospital, and his mother was a real-estate agent whose face was plastered on bill-boards all over town. This made Ryan the victim of constant assaults, both physical and verbal. Some days he'd get lucky and only have to deal with someone writing slurs on his locker, such as "rich fuck" or "racist piece of shit." Other times he wasn't so lucky, and the result would be anything from getting punched in the face, to getting his head stuffed into a toilet.

He was thankful that his parents were there for him when he needed them to be. They were really the two best parents anyone could ask for. But sometimes he'd come home after getting the shit beat out of him to find his parents absent, both at work or doing something else, which would cause Ryan to become depressed. He would then run up to his room, throw himself onto his bed and sob like a child.

Even though he hung out with James and Carl, he was always skeptical of them. He didn't completely trust anyone besides his parents, losing faith in humanity's sense of loyalty years ago after one of his closest friendships were shattered like a dish falling to the floor. Like Carl and James, he was into My Little Pony, and like his friends, there was a much deeper reason for it than just the fact that he enjoyed the show's story-lines.

Ryan was never the most confident person in the world; in fact, he always put himself down no matter what he did, to the point where everyone around him would think he was being a martyr when it was really just because he didn't like himself. Even when he did something good, he would constantly focus on what he did bad- even if it was something so minuscule nobody would care or even notice. He first watched the show after looking at some memes online that sparked his interest. Soon, he was watching it non-stop in the secrecy of his room.

The reason that he liked, besides it being his form of escapism, was because of Rainbow Dash. She was everything that he wasn't. She believed in loyalty, she was confident in herself, or she projected it at least, and she was more outgoing and, for lack of a better word- fun.

But more than anything it was the fact that she was loyal. Seeing her always stand up for her friends quickly resulted in her becoming his favorite character on the show. Sure she was arrogant, the polar opposite of Ryan, but that's why he admired her. She could boast, but could back it up. He respected that about her. Plus, he always wished that he could have a small amount of her confidence.

He always wanted to meet a girl with those traits, which was virtually nonexistent in Wilmont as well as this world. Every time he saw her on the show, he'd become extremely upset, knowing that she, as well as her friends, was nothing more than ink on paper, made for people's entertainment. Whenever he had the chance to make a wish, he'd wish that he could meet her, get to know her, and be friends with her, or something more.

He never would say it out loud, but he loved her. He hardly told anyone, not even Carl, that he had a crush on her. For obvious reasons, it was too embarrassing to admit one's love for a cartoon pony that would never cross this realm of reality no matter how often prayers and wishes were uttered.

He was deep in thought about this when he heard a knocking at the passenger-side window. He nearly jumped out of his seat and dropped his glasses from the surprise. He looked over to see James through the window, a big smile on his face. Ryan rolled his eyes and James got into the truck.

"Goddamn it, James." Ryan said. "Was that really necessary?"

"Of course. Annoying you is a daily requirement of mine." James answered, laughing. "Right along with brushing my teeth and showering."

"You know I believe in an eye for an eye James," Ryan said, turning the volume up on the radio as James shut the car door behind him. "So you'd better be careful when you're at your most vulnerable. And I assume that will be tonight at the party after you pound a few beers."

James smiled, "A few? Oh, Ryan, buddy, you have no idea what I'm getting myself into."

Ryan chuckled a little bit before he drove off to pick up Carl. Ryan slipped the sunglasses onto his face, hiding the bruise from James' view to avoid talking about his bullying problem.

Wilmont City Hall

Everyone had started to leave the offices for the day. The normally loud, busy building that echoed with arguments and debates during the day grew quieter as evening approached. Contrarily, the city itself was more alive now that it was at any other point in the day, mostly because of the growing rush hour traffic as people began to head home for the night.

Wilmont City Hall was quite a grand achievement. Six stories high with "WILMONT CITY HALL" in big, white letters that cast shadows over the streets below. The outside of the structure was black, the inside mostly white, filled to the brim with office spaces, desks. Nothing out of the ordinary save for a grand staircase and a marble-floored hallway, the walls lined with oil paintings from various points in the city's history.

Brett Howard sat in a chair outside of Mayor Drocsid's office, tapping his fingers against his briefcase impatiently. He had light brown hair and silver eyes. He was about thirty-five but the stress and darkness in his face made him look a lot older.

The door to the Mayor's office finally opened, getting Brett's attention so that he stood up.

Mayor Drocsid came out and turned to Brett. When he saw his assistant, he gave a big smile.

"Brett; my friend. How have you been this fine day?" he asked in a cheerful way, giving Brett a warm him before backing off to give Brett some space.

"Fine sir."

They began to walk down the hall towards the exit, discussing the main points that the speech was to include. The Mayor grinned and, noticing that no one was around anymore, decided to become a little more personal in his discussions with Brett, "So, is there anything you'd like to discuss before heading home? Obscure?"

"Sir, are you sure it's all right to talk so openly?" Brett, or Obscure Darkness, asked.

"Of course, no one is around! Look, this building has become a ghost town! As soon as six o'clock hits people flood out of here like the place was on fire." He smiled, "It makes this place quite boring."

"Well Earth is a lot different." Brett said, smiling darkly. "It is much more chaotic then back home."

"Obviously. But that makes my job a lot easier." The Mayor grinned evilly as his eyes changed to a scary, yellow color. Brett jumped back a bit at this sudden change.

"Ah! Dear Celestia! Tell a pony when you're going to do something like that!" Brett let out a sigh of relief to calm down. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Truly sorry about that." His eyes returned back to normal. "This world is so unstructured. And those people who call for structure are shouted down by the youth. This new generation of humans, the teenagers, they're our targets."

"You've taken quite a liking to them, huh?"

"Oh Obscure, you have no idea. They want disorder, and we will watch as they achieve it."

The Mayor walks over to a window and looks out at Wilmont, which is still visible under the setting sun.

"Disgruntled, entitled, arrogant, brash, jealous. Nopony would expect a world like this to exist, let alone function." Brett said, following the Mayor to look outside as a few cars passed by in the streets below.

"Yes, unlike Equestria, this place is destined to fall to chaos."

Brett nodded and began to walk away when Drocsid called after him.

"Oh and Obscure," he said. Brett turned around, "I would appreciate to open the newspaper tomorrow and find Mr. Hanson in the obituaries. I know you are friends with him, but if we are to succeed with our plans, it's necessary."

Brett nodded with some regret before he gave a malicious smile to his boss. "Yes sir."

Party- Night

"WOOOOOOOHOOOO, aw yeah we are getting hammered tonight bitches!" James shouted in his drunken stupor as he danced around the small house where the party was being held.

"To a wonderful, MAGNIFICENT summer of relaxation, and getting FUCKED UP!" James shouted before chugging more of his beer to the sound of some drunken cheering, while anyone who was remotely sober shot the black-haired teen an annoyed glare.

There were about sixty people present at this shindig, and while most of the people attending were drunk, it was clear that James was the most obnoxious. Everyone was either getting really annoyed by him or joined him in their own alcohol-induced states. Hip-hop and rap were blaring out of the three-foot tall speakers. Everywhere, people were dancing Whether it be solo, like James, or with their significant other, like many of the football players were doing with their girlfriends. Actually, scratch that, they weren't dancing as much as they were "grinding" on each other in the most sexual way imaginable.

While a massive mosh pit was forming in the living room, Ryan and Carl stood over in the kitchen area watching as their friend made a complete fool out of himself in front of the entire party. Carl was sipping a beer while Ryan stood with a simple cup of water, clearly bored out of his mind.

"I think we should take him home before he hurts himself." Ryan grumbled.

Just as Ryan said this, James walked over to a hot blonde girl, the cocky grin on his face showing that he was flirting with her. Suddenly, a guy wearing a Wilmont Football jacket walked over and pushed James out of the way, threatening him for trying to "take my girl". James just threw his arms up in a "what's up" way before slowly walking off and over to some pot-head that was chilling on the couch with some of his friends, smoking from a huge bong. The stoner's black hoodie, backwards Nike hat, and long, brown hair strewn around gave him the look of a classic burn-out.

Upon Ryan seeing this turn of events, he felt the need to add to his original statement.

"Or someone else hurts him."

"He'll be fine." Carl said as he took a sip of his beer. "

Ryan let out an obnoxious yawn.

"God this party is boring!" he groaned as he took a sip of water.

"Then leave, no one's stopping you. You have the car. Me and James don't live too far from here." Carl said, noticing Ryan's bored look.

"I'm not going to leave this early just because I'm bored. I don't want to be that guy."

"Dude; you're already that guy."

Ryan raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms defensively. "What does that mean?"

"Are you serious?" Carl said, laughing like he couldn't believe Ryan didn't know. "It means you're the biggest buzz-kill on the planet. You never let your hair down to enjoy the ride; you always have to over-analyze everything."

"I do too let myself have fun;" Ryan said, "That fun just doesn't involve alcohol or sex."

"And I'd like to thank you for proving my point, Buzz Killington." Carl grumbled as he took a sip from his can of beer, as if illustrating his point.

"Hey, you have beer to escape from reality, I have ponies." Ryan had a slight smirk as Carl rolled his eyes.

Carl started to walk over towards the table where the beer was and Ryan followed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and letting out an obnoxious yawn. Carl grabbed another beer off of the table and began to drink it, bringing him to his limit of two beers. After finishing his yawning session, Ryan looked up to see a girl.

He noticed that this girl was shyly looking over at Carl, a small smile clearly on her face and a blush in her cheeks, as if she wanted to go up to him, but was too shy.

Ryan tapped Carl's shoulder, "Dude, that girl over there is checking you out."

"Huh?" Carl looked to where Ryan was pointing. "Which one?"

"The cute one with the purple t-shirt and black sweat pants, over by the punch." Ryan said as he took another sip of water from his cup.

Carl looked around until he finally saw her. There was something that Carl noticed about her, something that made his jaw drop.

She was gorgeous, drop dead gorgeous. To say that she was simply "pretty", would be like saying the sun is quite large. She was like a Goddess out of Greek mythology. Great body, beautiful face and an impossibly innocent smile that could make the most hardened man's heart melt into a sappy puddle. Based on looks alone, she was Carl's dream girl, in nearly every, single way.

The girl then began to walk over to the two guys, now both acting like they weren't just staring at her moments before.

She smiled at the two. "Hi."

"Hello." They both respond in unison.

"My name is Tara. I just moved here." She extended her hand, which Carl hesitantly took and shook it, finding it hard to look away from her eyes. "What are your names?"

"Carl."

"Ryan." Ryan shook her hand as well.

"It's nice to meet you both."

"So where are you from?" Ryan asked, as Carl was still too enchanted by her beauty to do anything besides stare stupidly into her amazing eyes.

"Let's just say I'm from someplace far away." She said with a smile.

"Well, that's vague as hell. Could you be any more specific?"

Tara shook her head, "I'll tell you later, if you'd like."

"Sure." Ryan said somewhat suspiciously. Carl chuckled, snapping himself out of his trance.

"So what do you like to do?"

"I love to read." She said enthusiastically. "Oh, I also love to learn."

"Read and learn? Heh, she's like the polar opposite of you Carl." Ryan said, giving his friend a playful nudge. Carl shot Ryan an angry glare, but the blush in his cheeks was undeniable.

Tara laughed. "You sound like one of my friends, she hates that stuff to, well, with a few exceptions."

"Really, maybe I can meet this friend of yours and discuss how we loathe everything you love." Carl said with a somewhat flirtatious voice.

Tara smiled and chuckled, "Maybe."

Carl began to think, "God her voice is familiar, where have I heard it before?

"Yo, what's up my homies?" Shouted James as he stumbled over to the trio, drunk as a clam. "Guys, guess what? Louis has some weed over there; the shit is off the fucking chain!"

James pointed to the stoner that sat in the corner, still lighting it up with his friends.

"Um, dude?" Ryan gestured over to Tara. "There's a lady here, why don't you tone down the swearing a bit?"

"James," Carl said to shut his friend up, "I'd like you to meet Tara. Tara, this is our good friend James. And I'd like to apologize for his vulgar language, he's drunk and he doesn't know any better."

"Hello," she said, extending her hand, "It's very nice to meet you."

"Like...Like..." James tried to finish saying "like wise" when he suddenly turned away and vomited all over the floor of the living room. Tara jumped back at the spectacle and covered her mouth in shock, Carl's mouth hung open, and Ryan just laughed.

"Christ James!" Carl shouted angrily, "What the fuck!"

"I think...hic...I've had too much."

Ryan raised his eyebrows, "Oh, you don't say."

Ryan then laughed a little more at his sarcastic joke, but Carl was just annoyed that his drunk friend would vomit in front of a girl that he just met, a girl that he happened to like.

James straightens himself up when suddenly someone grabbed him from behind and turned him. Lawrence Tomlinson stared directly into his eyes. Lawrence was pretty large, but somewhat pudgy as well. He had curly black hair and a mean-looking face. His eyes were so hate-filled that after seeing them, you would question the validity of the fact that everyone was a child at one point.

"Hey moron! What the fuck are you doing?" Lawrence asked harshly.

"I...hic...don't know."

"Are you trying to ruin this party?"

"No...I."

Lawrence grabbed James' by the shirt and threw him to the ground angrily. Ryan stood up and stormed over to him.

"Hey Lawrence, why don't you go piss on somebody else's parade."

Lawrence smiled, "But I enjoy messing with you and your friends. Now I suggest you three leave this party now before I fuck up your other eye in front of everybody."

Ryan bit his lip and sighed.

"Come on guys, let's go." Ryan said as he turned away from Lawrence, glaring at him until he began to walk away. But then he felt Lawrence grab him and turn him around so they were facing each other again.

"On second thought, Ryan, I think some facial symmetry would do you some good." With that, Lawrence reared his fist back and punched Ryan directly in his eye that had not been bruised yet, and he fell down onto the beer-soaked carpet. He looked up at Lawrence, who was laughing at him, as were the rest of the people at the party, save Carl and Tara. Even James laughed, but that was just because he was drunk as hell. Ryan, wide eyed and on the verge of tears, pushed himself up and ran out of the house.

"Shit, Ryan." Carl said, following him out and grabbing the drunken James as well.

"Aw! The game isn't over yet! Hic...the Knicks still have a chance to win the series!" James complained drunkenly. Tara began to follow, but was stopped by Lawrence, who stepped into her path and held his hand out.

"Aw wait, I only said those three losers had to go." He said, grabbing her shoulder.

"Let go of me." She said angrily.

"But I want you to stay, so you're staying." Lawrence smiled his cocky smile as Tara glared at him. A faint, purple glow was visible in her eyes, as well as her forehead, as she stared up the bully in anger.

"You let go of me before I buck you so hard in your stallion-hood that you won't be able to mate for a century."

Lawrence's eyes went wide in shock as he let Tara go. She gave him one last, angry glare as her eyes went back to normal before she ran outside after Carl and the others.

"What the fuck?" Lawrence asked no one in particular, watching as Tara walked out. "What was that? Who was that chick?"

Outside, she saw Carl standing at Ryan's car, with James vomiting on the lawn. Ryan sat in the passenger-side of the car with tears rolling down his cheeks as he silently cried.

"Hey man, come on. It's fine."

"I know, I'm just sick of it." Ryan whimpered as he wiped some tears away from his eyes and sniffing. Tara walked over.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Ryan nodded before looking over at James, who was hunched over the lawn, singing Kiss songs with a slurred voice as his vomiting started to stop.

"Besides, you two should be more concerned about James over there."

Ryan pointed to James. When Tara and Carl saw this, they laughed. Carl walked over to James. James raised his head slightly.

"Let me sing! They want an encore!" James shouted drunkenly. Carl pulled James up.

"There's no concert James."

"Yes there is. They're...they're shouting for me!"

"There's no audience either."

"Awwww..."

Tara put her hand to her mouth and giggled. Carl smiled at her before walking back and putting James in the back seat of Ryan's car. Ryan shut the door and turned the engine on. Once the car was on, he rolled the window down so he could still talk with Carl before driving James home.

Carl turned to Tara and asked if she wanted a lift back to her place or if she wanted to go back to the party.

She smiled warmly, "Actually, I was wondering if I could go back your place for a little bit." Carl raised his eyebrows and Ryan's mouth fell open. "If that isn't too much of a problem."

"Um...no, of course it isn't. Yeah, you can come back to my place." Carl said with a smile as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Ryan, my house isn't too far so I'm going to walk to my house with Tara. If that's all right."

"Yeah man, of course." Ryan nodded before he smiled and gave his friend a wink.

"Go get her player." He whispered in a tone that basically screamed out to Carl, 'Go get laid'. Ironic coming from a boy who never had sex in his life.

Ryan then turned to Tara and waved, "Nice to meet you Tara!"

"Likewise." Tara said with a small chuckle as she waved back to Ryan.

"Hey James, why don't you give me a little Strutter?" Ryan said.

"Awwww yeah!" James shouted before he began to belt out the lyrics to the classic Kiss song. With that, Ryan drove off into the night, James still singing from the back seat as his feet were propped up on the window.

Carl went back over to Tara, who was trying hard not to laugh. "Sorry about all of that."

Tara waved it off like it was nothing. "No problem, I'm kind of used to my friends being random. Especially one of them, I swear she laws of physics don't apply to her at all."

Carl chuckled a little bit before they started to head off to his house.

As they walked with each other down the dark sidewalk, they began to talk as if they had been friends for longer than an hour. Carl didn't know why, but he felt as though he knew this girl, that they've met before, but he wasn't sure when and where.

It wasn't just her familiar voice that drew his attention, either. It was her eyes, her violet eyes that mirrored his, but there was something different about them. Carl always knew his eyes to be a darker shade of violet.

Only when people got somewhat close were they able to see the purple shade that they had. But with her eyes, the violet color shone bright as day, so that he could tell her eye color even if they were at different ends of a room. They were also the most beautiful eyes that he'd ever seen; large, expressive and had more innocence in them than any other teenager girl's eyes.

In fact, she seemed a LOT nicer than any other girl his age that he'd ever met in Wilmont. Most of them were either obsessed with popularity, partying like animals, or being stuck-up and "holier than thou" around men, only engaging with them when it benefited them in some way. The full moon hung like an ornament in the sky above the town as Carl led her out of the one neighborhood and into the one where he lived. Luckily Carl's house was very close to the party, after all it was a well-known fact that the roads of Wilmont were not the safest place to be at night.

They finally reached Carl's house and walked up to the door.

"Okay, we're going to have to be quiet. My family's probably asleep, but they're pretty heavy sleepers so it shouldn't be an issue." Carl whispered as he opened the door, gesturing her in, "after you m'lady."

"Wow, what a gentlecolt." Tara said happily before she walked in. Carl smiled, but then his expression fell as what she said registered in his mind.

"Wait, did she just say...nah." He thought before shrugging it off, guessing that he only misheard her.

He followed Tara into the house. Tara looked around. She found the house to be fairly nice, but at the same time sort of ordinary. There were white walls and green curtains, as well as some hints of color but it all seemed so...dull. She was used too much more vibrant, exciting, and colorful back where she came from. She did, however, like it overall.

"Wow, your house is really nice." She whispered in awe as she walked towards the living room, scanning the scenery like some explorer visiting a foreign land for the first time.

"Yeah, it gets the job done." Carl shrugged.

Tara then walked over towards Carl's father's office across the hall. Well, it was his office before he passed on. Now it was the designated library of the house. Books filled the shelves. Books that were hardly ever read save for the occasional novel his mother would crack open after a long day at work. The main reason for this was because these books were mostly Carls' fathers, and once he died, the passion for reading them died as well.

Tara looked up at the books that filled the room and let out a gasp that Carl would have normally pictured a girl letting out after meeting Justin Beiber.

"Oh my gosh, there are so many books!" she said with an enthusiastic grin.

"I know." Carl rubbed the back of his head. "Most of them used to be my fathers'. I'm not a big reader myself. It's a shame though; I really wish I were though. Damn my A.D.D."

She pulls a book off of the shelf and presses it against her chest, smiling broadly. Carl chuckled to himself at how excited she seemed to be.

"You know I've never met someone as interested in books as you are."

"Really?" she asked, before she looked away, shame in her eyes. "I guess I'd be considered and egghead here too, huh?"

"Why would someone call you an egghead?"

"Because I like to read and study and...you know...nerdy stuff." She said, her cheeks crimson like she was revealing the most embarrassing facts about her life.

Carl decided to take a risk, placing his hand onto the girl's shoulder. She looked up into his smiling face.

"Well, in my opinion, you are way to cool to be called an egghead." Carl said. Tara smiled at the boy's kind remarks.

"Aw that's sweet Carl. Thank you." Tara said. She then seemed to remember something as she put the book back onto the shelf. "Hey Carl, is it okay if we go up to your room for a minute? I need to talk to you about something."

"Um..." Carl began, suddenly getting nervous, imagining where this was going. "Yeah, sure, follow me. Make sure you're quiet."

"Because your family is asleep?"

"Exactly, wow, you have an impressive memory."

They walked upstairs, being as quiet as they could so that wouldn't wake up Carl's mother or sisters. He felt his way around in the darkness of the hall until his hand landed on the door-handle that led to his room.

He opened it and gestured Tara in. She smiled and walked into the dark bedroom. Once he shut the door behind himself, Carl turned one of his lights on so that the room was lit, but not so bright that anyone would wake up.

"Okay Tara, so, what did you want to talk about?" He turned to see that she had moved to the door and her hand was on the handle. Tara gave Carl a very serious look. Suddenly, Carl went from being nervous, to being somewhat scared.

'Click'

Tara had just locked the door, and now Carl was terrified.

"Heh, um...what...what are you doing Tara?" he asked nervously forcing himself to chuckle. Tara walked over to him; her violet eyes staring daggers into his own, her smile gone. She was all business.

"Stop calling me Tara, you know my real name."

As she said this, Carl's eyes widened in confusion. "Um...I'm sorry, what?"

"You know my name isn't Tara." She said sternly.

"What are you talking about? If you're not Tara, then what is?"

Tara, or at least the girl who originally went by the name Tara, gave Carl a small, know-it-all smile.

"You know who I am, just like I know everything about you."

"Really? You know everything about me?" Carl nodded while laughing, trying to mask the fact that he was scared as hell. "Okay, go ahead and prove it. Tell me a little bit about myself."

Tara smiled and closed her eyes. Carl laughed at this, about to say, "I thought not" when she opened her eyes, now glowing a bit, and began to recite an amount of information that would make the world's greatest stalker turn green with envy.

"Your name is Carl Lewis and you are a seventeen year old human. You were born in Buffalo, New York June 7th 1995 and you moved to Wilmont in 1998 because your father needed to follow his job. You have violet eyes, much like me, but here on Earth that is considered abnormal whereas it's normal where I come from. Your favorite food is sausage pizza with a side of barbecue chips."

Carl bit his lip and rocked back and forth anxiously as Tara continued.

"Your favorite type of music is 1980's rock, your favorite band is Rush, your favorite movie is "Inglorious Basterds", and your favorite TV Show currently is "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". Also, your favorite character is Twilight Sparkle." Tara then blushed. "And if I say so myself, I'm flattered. Usually people like Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy the most."

Carl raised an eyebrow, "Why would you be flattered?"

Tara smiled, "You said my voice sounded familiar, correct?" Carl nodded. "Well, close your eyes and listen to me speak and tell me where you know me from."

Carl rolled his eyes as he began to get more annoyed by this girl's antics. Giving in, he closed his eyes and shrugged, "Okay, hit me."

"The reason I had you close your eyes is because you will know who I am if you don't see me now." She began to glow a bright purple, which Carl didn't notice as his eyes were closed tight. He began to realize where he knew her voice from, "My body's a distraction to your mind. Not because of you attraction to it, but because you cannot piece together my voice with how I look. But now that you can only hear me, you'll know who I am."

Taking away the image of Tara's body made another person, rather pony; become associated with her voice.

"But...that can't be...that's not possible."

Carl suddenly slowly opened his eyes in hesitant realization. Once they were fully open, he not only realized that what he thought was possible, but it was the truth. There, directly in front of him where the girl he once called Tara was standing moments before, was the cartoon, lavender unicorn he watched every Saturday morning.

"You recognize me now, don't you Carl?" Twilight Sparkle asked with her eyes closed and a smug smile plastered on her face like she just answered the million-dollar question on a game show.

At this point, Carl was overcome with dizziness. The sight of the animated unicorn was too much for his previously rational mind. The room started to spin around hi, like a scene from "Inception", before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Carl!" Twilight gasped, running over to his unconscious body. She stopped next to him and started to look him over. Once she was certain that he was all right, and simply passed out from shock, she sighed in relief.

"I probably should have handled that better." She said, chuckling nervously.