Imagination is an interesting thing...
Imaginary Friend.
One of the most fantastic things in the world, is the imagination of a child.
But… it is also one of the deadliest...
“Mum? Is it okay if I go out and play?”
“Of course, Button, just remember to stay within earshot. It’s nearly dinner time.”
“Ok mum!”
Milano gave a smile as she watched her son run out of the kitchen and into the back garden, before she returned to what she was doing. She was cooking dinner, though in a smaller amount than what she was used to. It had been a few months since her eldest son had left for college and her husband was still in Manehatten on work business, so it was just her and Button in the house.
She missed the two dearly, but enjoyed spending time with Button. She had loved the experience of raising her eldest son when he was a colt, but as he grew into a young stallion, she was not needed as much as when he was a colt and she missed having the experience. So when Button was born, she was overjoyed that she was able to once more enjoy the experience of raising a foal.
However, recently she had been getting worried about Button’s social status at the school. The family had moved to Ponyville, near Whitetail woods, a couple of months ago and in that time Button had only made one or two friends, and even then she hardly ever saw them around their house or Button going to theirs. She had at first blamed the video games Button would always play and even took them away from him at one point during a grounding, after he had threatened to slay her and called her a ‘she devil’.
As she was stirring the food, she heard Button laughing and talking to himself and stole a quick glance at what he was doing and smiled, seeing him playing with his toy train set and as she returned to the pot, she swore she heard a second voice in the garden with Button. Milano looked up again from her cooking and peeked outside, but only saw Button, she was a little confused as she swore she had definitely heard two voices outside and decided to call Button back into the house, seeing as the food was almost ready to eat..
“Button! Come back inside now, dinner's almost ready!” She called.
“But muuum,” Button whined, “I don’t want to yet!”
“I’m going to count to five young colt,” Milano warned, “one… two…”
“Okay, okay I’m coming!” Button replied in a slightly panicky tone.
Milano giggled to herself, for some odd reason that always seemed to work on young foals and just like his older brother, Button would do as he was told when threatened with ‘counting to five’ threat. She watched as Button came back to the house, surprised he hadn’t turned to the other pony she had heard speak and say goodbye, she was surprised as well that when Button came in, he didn’t ask her if the other pony could join them. Before he sat down at the table, Button pulled out one of the other chairs at the table and then gently pushed it back in slightly as he set out three plates and took his own seat before Milano came over with the foo, she saw the extra plate and looked to Button.
“Sweetie, why did you set three plates out?” She asked.
“So my new friend can eat with us!” He replied with a grin.
“Oh? A new friend?” She said with a soft smile, “is that who I heard you talking with outside?”
“Uhuh!”
“Well… aren’t you going to go and invite him in? He’s still outside.”
“No he’s not, he’s sitting at the table with us,” Button replied.
Milano blinked for a moment then held back a sigh, realising that the supposed friend was an imaginary one. Still, Button looked happy and she decided to play along.
“Oh I see,” she giggled, “does this friend have a name?”
“He’s called Laughing Jack,” Button replied, smiling to the empty seat.
“Laughing Jack? That’s an interesting name,” she said, “what does he look like?”
Button looked to the empty seat and scanned up and down, as if making sure he could describe Jack as best he could.
“He’s really tall, like, taller then the Princess... almost!” Button began, “and he has this awesome spiral cone nose thingy! And he has long hair and long arms and baggy pants kinda like a clowns. OH! And he has stripy socks and is always smiling and laughing!”
“My, my,” Milano giggled, “he sounds quite the pony!”
“He’s not a pony mum…” Button looked over to the empty spot again,”he walks on two legs and doesn't look like a pony at all.”
Milano raised an eyebrow, but soon shook her head with a smile. She should’ve known that something he imagined wouldn’t be based from a pony, it was most likely based from something out of one of his many video games, but for the sake of his fun, she played along.
“Well it’s very nice to meet you, Jack, would you like some chips?” She asked the empty spot.
As she expected, she received no answer. But Button was looking at the empty spot and was nodding, like he was listening to the answer.
“Jack says no thank you, he doesn’t eat like we do.”
“What does he eat then?”
Button looked back to the empty spot.
“Apart from sweets, he won’t say.”
Again, she raised her eyebrow at the answer but once more shook her head and giggled, trust him to say that Jack ate sweets. She knew that Button would most likely ask her for some sweets for ‘Jack’ but in actual fact, he would eat them when she wasn’t looking and claim Jack had.
As they ate their dinner, Milano couldn’t help shake off a feeling of unease and wasn’t sure why she was feeling it, Button on the other hand was happily wolfing down his dinner, and making conversation with Jack which Milano had to admit she found cute.
Dinner was soon finished, and Milano brought over desert for the them. A slice of chocolate cake for her and Button, and a handful of hard sweets for Jack after Button had asked her nicely, to which after the third time, she had given in.
“Mum, can me and Jack go back outside and play?” Button asked.
“Of course, sweetie, just stay where I can see you okay?” Milano replied as she started to wash up.
“Yay!”
Button got down from the table and ran outside, Milano smiled as she watched him go before carrying on with the washing up. She turned round when she thought she had heard a second scraping sound behind her and saw that the chair Jack was ‘sitting’ in had been pushed back slightly, she studied it for a moment then remembered how Button had pulled the chair out before dinner and decided he must have pulled it out as well.
“Good night, Button, sweet dreams,”
“Night, mum… love you”
“I love you too sweetie…”
Milano finished tucking in Button into his bed and gave him a soft kiss to his head before flicking on his night light, as she came to his door, she turned round as if to give one last check to make sure everything was in order. A soft smile found its way onto her face as she saw Button softly sleeping, a toy plush dragon from one of his games firmly in his grip as she slowly closed the door and headed downstairs. As she entered the living room, the telephone rang and she walked over to it and picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Hi hunny, its me,” Button’s father replied.
“I know its you,” she giggled, “no one else calls me honey like that.”
“And you love it,” she heard him reply with a chuckle, “I’m not too late to say goodnight to the champ am I?”
“I’m afraid so, dear, I just put the little one to bed.”
“Aww… well, could you let him know tomorrow that his ol’ man loves him?”
“Of course dear, how’s your day been?”
“Oh you know, the usual,” he chuckled, “boring business and all that, and you?”
“Well, Button made a new friend today,” Milano replied.
“Did he?” he replied, his tone filled with excitement, “and who is his new friend?”
“Laughing Jack,” Milano replied.
“That’s… an odd name?”
“It’s an imaginary friend dear,” Milano giggled.
“Ah, that makes much more sense, I suppose we all go through that phase. Why, I had an imaginary friend who was a sea dragon with jets for legs.”
“Is that so?” She asked, a smirk forming on her face, “you never told me that.”
“Well, thats because it was a silly thing from my childhood, that’s why.”
“I bet you had all sorts of fun together, didn’t you?” She teased, “was he your besty westy friend forever?”
“Har har,” he sarcastically replied, “you’re not going to let that one go, are you?”
“Nope!”
“Figures,” he chuckled, “I’d better get to bed myself, have an early morning meeting to be bright and alert for. Good Night hunny, I love you.”
“Love you too dear, sleep well.” Milano replied before putting the phone down.
Milano settled herself down on the sofa, planning to do a little bit of reading before she herself would retire to bed, about half an hour later, she heard Button’s door creak open and her ears twitched before she heard the sounds of soft hoofsteps walking onto the landing as if it was creeping.
“Button, that better not be you trying to sneak downstairs to eat more cake,” she said sternly, but with a smirk on her face.
“Rats…” she heard Button whisper.
The hoofsteps retreated back into Button’s room before his door closed, Milano couldn’t help but chuckle and went back to reading her magazine. After around ten minutes of reading she began to feel her eyelids get heavier and let out a yawn, deciding it was time for her to go to bed. Slowly making her way up stairs, she first opened Button’s door softly, so no creak could be heard, to make sure he was sound asleep.
Happy that he was indeed asleep, she slowly closed the door and headed for her own bedroom. After brushing her teeth and settling herself into the bed, she switched the light off and closed her eyes with another yawn.
Milano woke with a start, as she heard something smash downstairs, making her heart beat rapidly as she switched on the light. She slowly made her way to the bedroom door in time to hear the sound of rapid hoofsteps running up the stairs and then stopping, opening her door with a flash she looked to Button’s door with a look of anger on her face as she saw it close softly.
Walking right up to his door she opened it and saw Button was wrapped up tightly in his duvet, like she had left him earlier that night, but she wasn’t having any of it.
“Button Mash, I know you’re awake.”
Silence.
With a roll of her eyes she walked over to his bed and gently shook him, she watched in annoyance at his ‘pretending I was asleep’ routine as he yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
“Huh… mum?”
“Don’t pretend you were asleep young colt,” she started, “I heard something smash downstairs followed by your hoofsteps and saw your door close!”
“But… I was asleep…” Button replied, not sure as to what was going on.
“Button… don’t lie to me.”
“But, mum… I really was…”
Milano could see some tears forming in the corners of his eyes, this made her rethink slightly. Button had never really lied to her properly except for a couple of times when he had stayed up late playing video games, and the sincerity in his voice made her doubt herself.
Had she just been hearing things?
She let out a sigh and pulled him into a soft cuddle, he sniffled and returned it as she gently kissed him on the head.
“I’m sorry, Button, I guess I was hearing things. Tell you what, you can have an extra slice of cake for dessert tomorrow as a way for waking you up like this?”
“Okay mum, thanks,” Button smiled as he yawned.
Milano kissed his head and tucked him back into bed before leaving the room once more, as she closed the door she bit her lip as she looked over the landing and down to the darkness of the living room.
“I was certain I heard something…” she muttered to herself.
She slowly descended the stairs and turned the lights on in the living room, as the lights flickered on and illuminated the room, Milano made her way towards the kitchen, slowly and cautiously, her ears twitching for any sounds that shouldn’t be there. With a quick flick of her hoof she hit the light switch and the kitchen was quickly engulfed in light as she slowly entered, all the while looking for anything out of place. She soon came across what had made the noise.
On the floor and now in pieces, was the glass jar she kept the hard sweets in just like the ones she had given Jack on Button’s request earlier.
From her first inspection, it looked like it had simply fallen off the counter, she also noticed that several sweets had been removed from the jar as she was certain that there was a lot more in their earlier, even with what she had taken out earlier. Just to be on the safe side, she would search Button’s room whilst he was at school, just to satisfy her uncertainty about the whole affair.
Milano cleaned up the glass from the floor carefully, before depositing it into the bin and placed the remaining sweets into one of the drawers and then turning the lights off in the kitchen and the living room. Before finally returning upstairs to her bed and falling asleep.
Milano woke up with a gasp, she had been woken up from her dream by the sound of foals laughing and looked around her room. Her eyes went wide when she realised that she was still in her bed but she was no longer in her room, rather in a large open forest in the middle of nowhere.
She slowly got out of the bed and began to walk down a pathway that was to her right, she didn’t know why she had decided to walk, it was like something was calling to her and she didn’t know what. As she continued to walk past the dead trees, the moonlight peeking down through the branches, she heard the sounds of foals laughing again and saw shadows running ahead alongside her within the trees, just being so far out for her to not be able to see them properly.
Suddenly, she heard a soft, musical song that echoed all around the entire forest, it was like no song she had ever heard before, but she couldn’t help but start humming along for some reason, it was just too catchy to not to.
Eventually the pathway broke from the forest and led to what seemed like an abandoned carnival, everywhere she looked were abandoned rides, old tents used for games, food vending tents, benches, chairs and tables. She felt a shiver go down her spine as the wind blew across the abandoned carnival, somewhere she heard the creak of something metal nearby and she swallowed the lump in her throat. Suddenly, right ahead of her in a large, run down looking tent she heard the laughter again, as she stared at the tent the strange song that was being played started to slow down slightly.
Everything in her body was telling her to run away, but for some reason against her will, she started to head towards the tent, as she came closer and closer the song played louder and slower until she had come to the entrance. The flap to the tent slowly pulled itself aside and she proceeded to enter the tent, despite the screaming in her head. The second she entered, the song came to an abrupt stop and the tent flap suddenly resumed its original position, leaving Milano in the pitch black tent.
“H-hello?” She managed to finally croak out.
She received no answer, just the eerie silence.
Milano felt her entire body begin to shake in fear as she tried to will her body to move and get out of there as fast as she could, but then her body froze and her eyes went wide as just in front of her, at the other end of the tent, a small candle lit up and illuminated the tent slightly.
What she saw, or rather barely saw, made her become fearful for her life.
She could just make out the outlines of at least a dozen foals, but that wasn’t the worst part. All of them had some form of mutilation on their bodies, some of them had only one eye or none at all, the blood still oozing down their faces. There were unicorns with their horns badly cut off or bent at unnatural angles and a pegasi with deformed wings bent at painful looking angles, she could see that they all had lacerations all over their bodies and had to hold back the urge to vomit when one of the foals stepped more into the light. She could clearly see half of its skull was missing and its brain was visible, the poor foals head stained with a deep red, what terrified her more was that all the children had a manic and twisted grin on their faces. Milano tried to scream but nothing came out, she tried to move her legs but they wouldn’t respond.
Then she heard it.
The song began again softly, and someone was humming along loudly... but it wasn’t coming from any of the foals.
In a panic, she tried to find what was making the humming sound as the foals started to advance on her, Milano saw they were wielding knives that seemed to float alongside of them and finally her voice came to her as she screamed when one of the knives sliced into her side causing a deep gash that sprayed blood, making her cry in pain even more.
One by one, the foal’s knives swung and cut into her, leaving gash after gash into her flesh as she screamed in pain, the blood staining her coat and pooling at the ground. As much as she struggled she couldn’t move her legs as the knives kept plunging and cutting into her, she felt tears stream down her face as she struggled to keep her consciousness, the humming growing louder and louder to the point where it was all she could hear, even over her own screams.
As she felt the world slowly fade out as the pain took over her, she struggled to keep her eyes open and managed to make the outline of something dark and tall slowly walking towards her, the last thing she heard was the humming slowing down and coming to a stop.
Milano sat bolt upright in her bed panting heavily, her eyes were wide and her entire body was covered in a cold sweat. She looked around the room to see she was back inside her bedroom and let out a sigh of relief.
“It was… just a dream?”
She wiped her brow and saw that the time was eight o’clock and she immediately began to panic, realising that it was almost time for Button to go to school, scrambling out of the bed she rushed out and over to Button’s room opening the door, only to see his bed was empty.
“Button?” She called out.
“I’m in the kitchen mum!”
Milano made her way downstairs quickly to find Button in the kitchen, smiling to himself and making a sandwich, she let out a sigh of relief as she entered the kitchen.
“I woke up before you and didn’t wanna wake you…” Button said.
“I appreciate it sweetie, but it’s a school day and I need to take you there, so you should have woken me up when you saw I was asleep.”
“Yes mum,” Button sighed.
“Good boy, now go get your saddlebags ready and I’ll finish up here.”
Button nodded and headed out of the room as Milano went over to his lunch and started to finish making it, trying to figure out if her bizarre nightmare had any meaning behind it.
“Have a great day at school sweetie!” Milano said to Button, nuzzling his cheek.
“I will!” He replied, “mum, will you say bye to Jack to?” He asked pointing to the empty space next to him.
Milano rolled her eyes slightly, although only a day had gone since Button created his imaginary friend, she did wonder if the other foals might bully him about it. But regardless, she smiled anyway and looked at the space beside her son.
“Goodbye, Jack. Have fun at school as well.”
As she gently patted the spot, her eyes went wide as a sudden chill shot down her hoof and she gasped slightly pulling back her hoof, Button didn’t hear her as he had been called over by the couple of friends he did have, Rumble and Scootaloo, the latter he had been paired with in a science experiment and they had formed a small friendship. Milano shook off the feeling she had with another shiver and looked over to Button, seeing the two foals he was with being joined by two others whom she recognised as Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.
‘Maybe today he will make some new friends… and might stop with this Jack character,’ she thought to herself.
Milano waved goodbye to Button as she turned around and headed for home, ready to start her daily routine.
It was hometime, and Milano had picked Button up along with the other various parents and siblings, but she was also walking back to her house with Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Applebloom and Rumble. When she had been about to leave she was approached by the foals siblings who said that they had all expressed wanting to go round Button’s house for the day and had asked Milano it it was ok, Milano naturally was more than happy, smiling to herself that Button had made friends. Although she was still puzzled about her nightmare, as well as the fact that, when she had searched Button’s room she could find no trace of the missing sweets.
They soon reached home and Milano let them into the back garden as she began to prepare dinner, she decided that since it was a special occasion she would make her homemade pasta and sauce for the young foals. As she began to start preparing the food for them, she couldn’t help swing her hips and hum a merry tune. Halfway through setting everything to cook she began to hear the sounds of singing coming from outside, albeit it faintly.
Out of curiosity, Milano looked up from her cooking and out the window to see the foals dancing in a circle, all smiling and seemingly having a great time, with a soft smile of her own she decided to open the door and watch them as the pasta cooked.
Her smile soon was replaced with a look of shock and slight fear as she heard them sing.
“All around the mulberry bush,
The monkey chased the weasel,
The monkey thought twas all in fun,
Pop! Goes the weasel!”
They fell about on the ground laughing as Milano watched in silent horror, her fear growing by the second, the song they had been singing had the exact, same, tune as the song from her nightmare. She had never heard of the song before and had no idea how Button and his friends knew it, with a forceful shake of her head she decided to call them in for dinner.
“Button! You all need to come in, now! Dinner’s almost ready!”
“But-”
“Now!” She snapped.
Button flinched at the sudden harshness of his mothers tone, as did his friends. Slowly, they all headed back inside and quietly settled around the table as Milano silently went back to cooking. Milano started to feel bad at how she snapped at the foals and decided to make it up to them with some extra dessert, more so than she had already promised Button for disturbing him the previous night. As they sat in silence and ate their meal, with only a few words exchanged, the silence had became too much for Milano to bear and she finally spoke up.
“So, who wants chocolate cake?” She asked with a smile.
As she had expected and wanted, the foals all grinned and all declared their desire to feast on chocolate cake. As Milano sat down and handed everyone two slices and gave herself one, she listened to them happily chomp away and giggle amongst themselves. Just as she was about to tuck into her slice, she remembered about their song and decided to ask them about it.
“That was a… nice song you were singing earlier, who taught you it?” She asked.
“Laughing Jack did!” Scootaloo replied, shocking Milano, “he played the song with his music box and taught us the lyrics.”
Of all the answers she was expecting, including that one, she was expecting Button to reply especially, if the answer was Jack.
“Laughing Jack did?” She asked and the foals nodded, “but… I thought he was just your imaginary friend, Button.”
“He’s not imaginary…” Button mumbled.
“He really isn’t Mrs Button’s mum!” Rumble added
“Yeah, he’s standing over bah Sweetie Belle and Button,” Applebloom added.
Milano looked around and saw no one in the room with them, but when Applebloom pointed with her hoof, she followed its direction to where Jack was supposedly standing and she felt everything in her body go cold and numb. As she continued to stare, a wave of fear consuming her, the slow tune from her nightmare began to play softly once more drowning out any other sounds, her vision blurred slightly as she continued to stare, her pupils getting smaller as the song grew louder and louder.
“Mum?” Button asked, shaking her softly, “you okay?”
Milano shook her head as she came out of her trance like state and noticed all of the foals were looking at her slightly concerned, she wiped her brow of the sweat that had formed and smiled at them.
“Sorry about that, I was off in my own little world… why don’t you go out and play for a bit more before your friends go home, Button?”
With a happy grin, Button and his friends rushed out of the house to carry on playing. The second they left Milano let out a choked sob and a breath she hadn’t known she had been holding.
“What was that… feeling?” She shivered.
When Milano had dropped off Button’s friends at their homes, the two had returned to the house and after much pleading, she had allowed Button to go and play in the garden, seeing as it was still light outside, but only for a an hour before he had to get himself ready for bed.
She sat herself in the living room to try and relax after the days strange events and flipped open her magazine, after about ten minutes of reading she heard the back door to the garden open and thinking it was Button, she ignored it and continued to read.
Her ears shot up alert when she heard heavy, slow footsteps, moving in the kitchen. Slowly she turned her head and tried to peer into the kitchen to see if Button was in there, but she saw nothing.
“Button? You in the kitchen?” She called out.
No answer.
Placing her magazine down she slowly got up, only to hear the sound of a drawer being slowly pulled open, the wood scraping loudly enough to echo in the living room.
“Button?”
Again, no answer.
Swallowing hard, she slowly made her way towards the kitchen slowly. Milano froze hearing the sounds of plastic wrappers being rustled and realised that the drawer that had the sweets in it was the one that was open. With a sigh, realising that it must be Button trying to sneak some sweets, she entered the kitchen and sure enough the drawer was open. But Button wasn’t there.
“Come out, Button, I know you’re in here.”
For a third time, Milano received no reply.
With a frustrated sigh she walked around the table, expecting to see Button lying on the floor or his tail poking out from under the table cloth. However, she didn’t see him, no one was there. Milano looked around the kitchen a little puzzled, she was definitely certain someone had been in the kitchen and the only one who could have been there was Button.
She turned to close the drawer and jumped with a startled yelp when the kitchen door to the garden suddenly slammed shut, she quickly ran over thinking that Button had been hiding and made a dash for outside only to be greeted by the empty garden. Immediately she began to panic slightly and ran outside, looking around for him.
“Button? BUTTON!?”
She walked a few feet towards the end of the garden in hopes he was there when she heard the kitchen door slam shut again, spinning around almost instantly, she ran back to the house and yanked the door open before rushing inside to find Button in the living room, a happy smile on his face. Milano blinked in shock as she felt a mixture of relief but at the same time confusion on how Button had got into the house without her knowing.
“Button, when did you come in?” she asked.
“Just now, I heard you call for me,” he replied.
“But, you weren’t in the garden,” Milano said, “I went out there and you weren’t there!”
“I was in the front mum,”
“Button,” she let out a sigh of relief, “I said not to go out the front without telling me first, I was worried sick and… Button, where did you get those sweets?”
Button was chewing on a few sweets as a couple of discarded wrappers lay beside him on the sofa, Milano recognised them as the sweets from the drawer but was confused on how they got there.
“Laughing Jack got them for me, he said you didn’t mind.”
“Okay, I’ve had it with this ‘Laughing Jack’ nonsense, Button,” Milano snapped, “he isn’t real, now tell me the truth!”
“But… I am telling the truth… why are you shouting at me?” Button replied, some tears in his eyes completely confused to why she was shouting.
Milano sighed and sat next to him, pulling into a hug as Button sniffled.
“I’m sorry, Button, but this is serious now. Did you take these sweets or not?”
“N-no! I swear! Laughing Jack did give them to me!”
“Button that is enough!” Milano said, “go to your room!”
Button whimpered softly and ran upstairs to his room holding back his tears, Milano heard his door slam and sighed deeply rubbing her temples with her hooves.
“Hello?”
“Hi hunny, how are you?”
“Eh… it’s been a rough day,”
“You okay? You don’t sound it…
Milano sighed as she began to regale her husband about the events of that day, starting with her nightmare.
“Huh… sounds pretty creepy, maybe you should lay of the sweets before bed?” He teased.
“This is serious, when Button got home with his new friends-”
“New friends? Are you serious? That’s great!” He interrupted
“Yes it is, but it gets worse, you know that damn song from my nightmare?”
“Uhuh.”
“Button and his friends were singing to it in the garden…”
“That… is a little odd…”
“And Scootaloo said that Laughing Jack told taught them it.”
“Wait, I thought Laughing Jack was Button’s imaginary friend?”
“That’s what I thought, but his friends were adamant that they could see him and when I looked where they pointed… oh Celestia I was terrified, nothing was there but I had this awful feeling that scared me…” Milano said stifling another sob.
“Whoa, whoa calm down hunny it’s okay… I’m sure it was nothing…”
“And then,” Milano continued, “when we got home, I caught Button stealing sweets but he claims Laughing Jack gave them to him, and how he got into the house and got the sweets makes no sense either…”
“Look…” she heard him sigh, “you should get some rest, you seem tired. I’ll be home in a couple of days and we can both sit down and talk to Button about this Laughing Jack, okay?”
“Ok dear… I love you.”
“I love you too hunny, give my love to Button for me.”
“I will, good night.”
Milano sighed and placed the phone down before falling onto the sofa and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. She decided she would get a glass of water and then head herself off to bed, but wondering if she would revisit the same nightmare from the previous night.
BANG!
Milano jumped as she heard a door slam from upstairs, followed Button screaming in terror followed by several crashes. In a second, she grabbed a knife and had run upstairs with a speed that rivaled even Rainbow Dash and ran to his room, bashing down the door in one move. The light was flickering as it swung from the ceiling gently, from what she saw, the room had been trashed.
Everything was either on the floor, broken or flung across the room. Several scratch marks were embedded into the walls, as she gasped and rushed to Button who was curled up against a wall, shivering in fear and in a pool of his own urine, tears staining his face. She quickly scooped him up and ran out of the room, casting a quick glance behind her and seeing that the bed had been ravaged by something sharp.
Milano ran to her neighbor's house and frantically banged on the door as Button clung to her for dear life, soon, she saw lights flick on upstairs and soon the hoofsteps coming down from upstairs.
“Who in the hell is knocking on my door at this hour?” She heard from the over side of the door before it was opened, “buddy, do you- what the, Milano?”
“Please let me in, Caramel! I need to use your phone it’s an emergency!” Milano begged.
Caramell saw Button crying hard into his mother’s neck as well as the smell of urine, coupled with the desperation and fear on her face it was enough to convince him to let her in. Shortly after using the phone, the guard that was stationed in Ponyville responded and soon arrived at Caramel’s house.
After searching thoroughly throughout Milano’s house, they found that no one was there and suggested that she may have interrupted and attempted burglary or foalnapping. Milano wasn’t convinced though, she was convinced something non pony had done something. As Button was put to bed in the spare room of Caramel and his wife’s house, Milano made a quick phone call to her husband and explained what had happened, disturbed by what his wife had said, he had promised he would get an earlier train home and arrive back either the following evening or the morning after.
Relieved by this, Milano headed upstairs into the bedroom and cuddled up close to Button, holding him protectively in to her chest as they fell asleep.
It had been a long and tiring day, neither Button or his mother had gotten much of sleep. She had spent the day at Caramel’s house whilst Button had gone to school, waiting for the verdict from the guard who had sent a team of forensic ponies down to try and find some form of dna evidence or anything else that could be used to link who it was that had tried to kidnaped or burgle Milano’s house.
Around five in the afternoon, after she had gone to pick Button up, she had been informed by the guard that she and Button could go home and that two guards will be stationed at the front and back of her house for awhile, night and day shifts, till the one who is responsible was caught. At first, Button was terrified and hesitant about going back to the house, but on being reassured of the protection and that his father was going to be home the next morning, he and his mother went home.
Button hadn’t really spoken that day, he didn’t tell anyone what he had saw and refused to speak about it, only saying he woke up to the room in chaos, but Milano’s motherly instinct thought otherwise.
That evening went on fairly normal save for how quiet it was, Milano and Button ate their dinner, she refused to let him play outside and practically followed him everywhere except to the toilet. Every hour or so the guards had reported to her on their findings as well as making sure she and Button were still ok. Milano had decided to have Button sleep in her bed with her that night and as she tucked him in she could hear him whimpering softly.
“It’s ok sweetie… mummy’s here, the windows are bolted, the doors are locked and the guards are outside… no pony is going to hurt you okay?”
“Okay mum… I love you…”
“Love you too sweetie…” she gently kissed his forehead before the phone rang, “mummy will come up in a moment, that’s probably your father telling me he’s on his way.”
Button nodded as he curled into the sheets and after cautiously looking around, he closed his eyes as his mother left the room, the knife from the previous night in her hoof, leaving the light on as well as the door open. She walked into the living room and reached for the phone, clearing her throat before answering.
“Hello?”
She received no reply.
“Hello?”
This time, she was replied with the sound of a phone being hung up.
Just as she was about to shrug it off and head upstairs, a loud thump came from the kitchen that startled her, she slowly turned and peered into the kitchen and her eyes went wide, seeing the light was off and the kitchen was pitch black. Slowly and cautiously she entered the kitchen and flicked the switch, filling the room with a bright light and she stifled a scream at what she saw.
Lying on the kitchen table with a look of shock frozen on his face, was the guard from the back door. His throat had been ripped out and the blood that had stained his fur and armor was pooling around his body as it started to drip onto the floor, she began to shake as her eyes trailed down his body and saw that his chest had been sliced open from the throat to his crotch. Holding back a wave of vomit, she saw that instead of his intestines which she then noticed where in a pile on the floor beside him, his entire body was crammed full of sweets.
The sweets she kept in the glass jar, the sweets Button had had earlier.
“Button!” she cried as her eyes went wild.
She turned around to leave the kitchen but felt something shove her hard, with a cry of pain she was violently shoved into the table, dropping the knife with a clang, as the sound of heavy footsteps ran out of the kitchen and into the living room.
BANG!
Milano saw the living room door slam shut and frantically looked for the knife she dropped but not seeing it anywhere, knowing she didn’t have enough time to grab another one she made the desicion to and ran towards the living room door, just as she heard something running up the stairs, the footsteps pounding into the wood.
“PLEASE HELP ME!” She screamed for the other guard to hear.
She didn’t wait for him to reply, instead she threw open the door of the living room and ran up the stairs.
BANG!
“MUMMY! HELP!”
Milano’s heart skipped a beat as she raced upstairs and heard Button scream, it was in her room, it was after her baby! She bashed her shoulder into the door as Button continued to scream, after the second attempt she bashed it open, only to hear a smash as the window was broken and caught a glimpse of Button being pulled out of it.
“BUTTON!” she screamed.
Running downstairs, almost tripping on her hooves, she threw open the front door to see the body of the other guard, in the same shocked, frozen position as the other with his belly stuffed to bursting with sweets. She didn’t stare too long though as she ran around the side of the house, tears in her eyes and her heart pounding. Milano desperately looked around to see where Button was to hear him screaming in the direction of Whitetail woods.
Running like her life depended on it, she rushed to the edge of the woods to catch another glimpse of Button, screaming as he was dragged by his hind legs fast by something obstructed by darkness and deeper into the woods.
Milano gave chase as best she could, her eyes never leaving Button’s who was screaming for her over and over as he desperately tried to break free of his foal nappers grip, tears streamed down her face as she began to pant heavily, her stamina giving out slowly.
“MUMMY!”
Button cried before disappearing around a group of trees, Milano reached the corner to find herself on a path but couldn’t see Button anywhere. She began to break down sobbing as she frantically looked around her, stumbling as she twisted and turned her body trying to hear him.
“BUTTON!?” She screamed for him.
She received no answer.
“No… Celestia please no…” she sobbed.
She suddenly heard a loud sharp scream from her left, she felt her entire soul go ice cold and her legs quivered slightly but she to take off towards the scream, praying that she wasn’t too late. Milano suddenly tripped over a root that was jutting out of the ground that she hadn’t seen and crashed into the ground hard, crying out in pain.
Shakily, she got back up to her hooves and looked around her, seeing nothing but the trees and darkness.
“BUTTON?!” she screamed.
Silence.
Milano choked on a sob before breaking down in tears, she had no idea where Button was and she felt to her knees harshly sobbing her heart out, she suddenly felt something land with a wet splat on her followed by a rapid dripping of liquid for a brief moment that caught her off guard, jumping to her hooves she dabbed one on her face then looked at it as her eyes went wide. In the soft light of the moon, she could easily see the dark liquid on her hoof. But her breathing became deep and heavy as she saw what had hit her on the head and fallen to the ground, staining her face with blood.
A tongue.
Slowly looking up and shaking like crazy, she tried to see where the blood had come from. Soon wishing she hadn’t. She wanted to scream but all that came out of her mouth was incoherent and stuttered gasps, her eyes filled once again with tears as she felt her legs go weak and she vomited.
Hanging, by a branch on one of the trees, was Button. His stomach had been sliced open and his intestines wrapped around his neck, strangling him and hanging him to the branch, his other organs had been removed and replaced with sweets making his sides bulge slightly and some starting to fall out to the ground. Blood leaked from his mouth and from his chest, dripping down his leg and onto the ground below. His eyes looked dead and were wide with fear as his tears, still fresh, stained his cheeks and she realised the tongue that had hit her, was Button’s, and had been partially cut out of his mouth.
“No…. no no no no no no no NO!” Milano screamed.
She fell to the ground once more, vomiting hard again before sobbing into her hooves. Her baby, her little Button was dead, she had failed to protect him, failed him as a mother.
That’s when she heard the soft sound of a music box playing behind her, followed by the same infernal humming she immediately recognised from her nightmare. Slowly turning round and held back another scream as she finally came face to face with… it.
Laughing Jack.
His skin was as white as a ghost and his black hair came to his shoulders, two piercing white eyes surrounded by black rings pierced into Milano’s and deep into her mind, as he smiled at her, he revealed his twisted, sharp teeth. His entire body looked grotesque and wrong as his arms dangled past his waist near the floor, the way he stood looked almost as if he was a marionette on a string. Just like Button had described, he was wearing a striped black and white outfit that looked like what a clown would wear along with striped sleeves and socks.
Milano saw in his hand was a small, silver, music box. A tiny handle that was turning slowly and playing the song. She heard him softly start to laugh, a low, sickening laugh that started to get louder and louder as he threw his head back, pleased with her reaction to everything.
“YOU MONSTER!” She screamed.
Jack simply continued to laugh, slowly walking around her without a care in the world. As he suddenly came to an abrupt stop, just as the music did, he turned to her and gve her a sick, twisted grin and slowly lifted his other hand, revealing a bloodied knife.
The knife she had dropped.
He must have taken it when she found the guards body. The knife was stained with what she knew was her son’s blood and the guards, her fear soon gave way to pure rage and anger at the creature.
“YOU’LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE! DEMON! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”
Not giving a damn about anything else, Milano charged at Jack, every fibre of her being hell bent on killing the monster apart. Just as she was about to reach him, she felt something grab her entire body, effectively freezing her in place. Milano struggled to move but to no avail as Jack slowly advanced on her, she closed her eyes tightly as she choked back another sob, knowing her life was going to end by his hand.
But nothing happened.
When she slowly opened her eyes again, Jack was crouching inches from her, his twisted grin even more so now. Milano watched in frozen fear as he forcefully grabbed her right hoof and held it up, then slammed the knife handle into it, forcing her to hold it. She tried to scream or make any kind of noise but nothing came, just as Milano felt her body begin to respond to her again, she heard noises coming from behind her as if several things were running in her direction. She was about to turn to see what it was when she noticed that Jack had started to back up, softly laughing at her as he suddenly vanished.
“NO! COME BACK YOU BASTARD!”
She gritted her teeth before breaking down again, sobbing heavily as she laid on the ground, her sobs echoing around her. Milano looked to the knife in her hoof before she had several lights shine on her and the area around and saw several heavily armed guards being followed by the Elements of Harmony, having run into the woods upon hearing the screams.
They stared at her face, which was still covered in blood, in confusion before looking up and seeing the body of Button, two of the guards immediately vomited as did Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie and Twilight. Rainbow Dash and Applejack barely keeping it together.
Slowly, Milano looked from their faces of utter shock and disbelief to the knife in her hoof and made the terrible realisation.
“No… no it wasn’t me…”
One year had passed since that fateful night when tragedy hit the small town of Ponyville. The town was still reeling from the shock of what had happened deep within Whitetail woods, and hundreds had gathered to the old home of Button in order to lay down flowers in his memory, just like they did a year ago. All four Princesses had traveled down to the town in order to oversee the remembrance service as well as offer their sympathy and condolences to Button’s family, especially his father. Even Discord, the embodiment of Chaos, had come to pay his respects. His usual cheerful and playful self gone, as he stayed close to the weeping Fluttershy for the duration of the service.
Button’s father had heard of the news when he had arrived into Ponyville early the next morning via a newspaper boy at the station and had broken down, sobbing his heart out and had to be helped up by a couple of guards stationed at the station. Throughout the year he had struggled to come to terms with what had happened, he couldn’t believe his wife would have done something like that but the evidence was too overwhelming. He soon turned to drink in order to try and numb the pain which lead to his family forcing him to go into rehab, worried for his health.
Button’s brother on the other hand, no one knew how he was. When he had heard the news he had difficulty understanding what had happened, and on the night before he was to be escorted back to be with his father and family, he simply got up and vanished. No one had even heard from him over the course of the year which pushed his father further into his depression, leading to a suicide attempt.
On the fateful night, Milano was arrested for murder, and quickly whisked away by the guards stationed in Ponyville and detained overnight. They had decided to question her as they waited for the arrival of Princess Celestia, who had been informed of the brutality of the murder and had stated she would speak with Milano herself. During the questioning, the guards began to question the sanity of Milano as all she would do is scream.
‘It wasn’t me!’ and ‘It was Laughing Jack!’
Needless to say, when Princess Celestia arrived a couple of hours later, the guards brought their concerns for her sanity to her and a psychologist from the local hospital came to examine her. He concluded to the Princess that Milano displayed clear signs of severe paranoia and insanity.
When the morning came, Milano was questioned again by Princess Celestia, who received the exact same answers the guards did only by now, Milano would periodically and erratically laugh out of nowhere before sobbing heavily. With the media and the Kingdom watching, and with the amount of evidence, Princess Celestia had no choice but to sentence Milano to the Trottingham Asylum for the Criminally ill, in order to try and get her some help. Every day she would scream her innocence whilst all the time laughing, crying, and in the dead of night, she would sometimes sing a strangely catchy yet creepy little song before laughing.
Whitetail woods remained empty of activity for some time after the murder, families never went their for a leisurely walk or for picnics. The running of the leaves race was cancelled, as the path ran right past the tree where everything had happened. The only ponies who did go there, were the ones with a sick, twisted sense of curiosity.
As the service came to an end, and everyone left to return to their daily routines as best they could. One little filly was heading to the outskirts of the town, heading to the one place she would regularly go when either her big sister was busy with her job or her friends were unavailable for a while. As she headed up the steps and into the wooden building, she heard the clouds boom with thunder before the tell tale signs of rain falling echoed all around the wooden structure.
With disgruntled groan, the filly pulled up one of the many cushions dotted around and plopped herself on it. She saw a book nearby, and with a smile, she pulled over the copy of ‘Daring Do’ and began to read, waiting for the rain to stop.
The purple maned filly’s head shot upright when she heard a loud creak outside of the door, as if someone was stepping on the wooden steps outside. She was about to call out to whoever it was, but she stopped when she heard a familiar song, being played from behind the door. A soft, gentle hum slowly followed as the handle started to turn.
“Jack… is that you?”
END
All Around the mulberry bush…
The monkey chased the weasel…
The monkey… thought... t’was all in fun…
Pop…
Goes…
The weasel...
Author's Note
[Edited version to come.] Any errors, feel free to let me know.
I'm aware many of you may wonder why Milano has no idea about the song 'Pop! Goes the Weasel' and the answer to that is simple, it is a human created song, so therefore the ponies wouldn't really know about it, at least in this story they don't.
