Strange Dreamsby Stray ThoughtsChaptersPrologueArrivalRising TensionsPrologueDarkness. Darkness I had known for a very long time. It surrounded me as it always did, begging me to open my eyes and see what horrors would await me. It clouded my mind like a thick blanket, smothering out the cherished memories. I almost wish I could just keep them closed because I knew what was coming. I could already here the voices, accusing, hateful, fearful, all pointed at me. I gave in to the temptation, as I always did, and opened my eyes to a familiar scene. An old castle, looking like it had been abandoned for decades, with foliage over taking the walls and the ceiling being almost non-existent. I hated this dream, it was the one that always scared me the most. It sent chills down my spine and I always woke up either screaming or sweating so hard it had looked like I had gone swimming. I finally decided to take notice of the figure in front of me, although I knew it was always there. It was blurry as it always was and all I could see its hate and fear towards me. I occasionally catch a word or two of what it says, but one word always stands clear to me. "Nightmare." I always hear it in an accusing tone, it burns into my brain as I know that it is directing it at me, as if it is my name. I hear more noises from far behind it, and then although I cant make out any distinct features, I can practically feel the smirk it gives off as it does a one-eighty in it's emotions. It rambles about something that I will most likely never know, but I can make out one word, "Harmony." That word is usually used in the connotation of friendship or happiness, but it is pointed at me like a dagger. All of the sudden five more figures are behind it, watching me, judging me. I still can't make out what the first one is saying but every word feels like I had been punched in the teeth. I didn't move or try to block out the noise, in fact I couldn't control my body at all. Then they all started floating, one by one they all raised in the air by some unforeseen force, each one exploding in color that hurt to look at. The purple one continues it's ramble until I can only see it over the overwhelming amount of color around me. Then all the color coalesce on the purple one and shoot up towards what's left of the ceiling and arching back down straight towards me. I tried to scream and run, but as always, I couldn't move, breath, or even twitch my eye. The rainbow of color surrounded me. It felt like a million wasps were all stinging me at once on every inch of my body. It was excruciatingly painful to the point where I couldn't even think and for those few seconds my entire existence was just pain. It stopped only seconds later, but it felt like an eternity. I feel to the ground finally having somewhat control over my movements, but unable to do much due to my weak state. I looked up to see the six blobs from before surrounding me, but I could now almost make out what they looked like, equines with disproportionate eyes that were all glaring at me, then the kicking started. Slowly they all started kicking me slamming me into the ground. I could feel their smirks of glee and feel their glares burning holes in my brain. Then they all backed off suddenly and I didn't want to waste the opportunity. I tried to get a hold of my self, planting my hands in front of me, except... ... ... all I could see were two hooves. I fell back to the ground in pain, all of the sudden feeling as if I was lit on fire, I glanced to one side and then I see HER. Unlike the other equines I could make her out perfectly clear, and it was terrifying. She looked like a larger, more horse like version of the other ones, except she instilled pure terror in me. It had silted, draconian pupils that raged with a fire that would make the devil cry to his mom. Speaking of fire, her mane raged with an inferno that I could feel from twenty feet away. It had both wings and a horn that were as white as snow and carried itself in a regal posture. What bothered me most was her smile, it seemed like the smirk that all those evil villains from the movies wore, but worse, it seemed unnatural and ingrained itself in my mind. The regal one walked up to me, each step closer feeling like a part of my skin was boiling off. It looked down at me with that same unnatural smile. It lifted it's hoof which had a horseshoe on it that was glowing with what I presume to be heat. As I pondered this, it all of the sudden jerked forward heading right towards my fa- D̸̂ͅ ̷͚̓a̴͓͗ ̵͖͌r̵̯̈ ̶̪̀k̵̦̄ ̷̱͂ ̵̯̆n̶̟͊ ̸͙͑e̷̠͊ ̷̛̳s̶̰͠ ̵͓̂s Mike woke up with a start, heaving in and out with ragged breaths, like he had just ran a marathon. He slammed his hand down on his beeping alarm clock and looked around the room in the early morning darkness and landed on his medication with a glare "Stupid Piece of Junk!" he yelled as he through the thing across the room. He got up to go to the bathroom and prepare for school. as he always did, it helped with the nightmares, falling into a routine. He almost collapsed as he entered the bathroom, immediately turning on the water and splashing his face with cold water, but nothing could remove the image of the blue slitted eyes in the mirror. Today was off to a great start. Author's Note So I took down this story a few weeks ago because I wasn't updating it and wasn't proud of it. While I'm still not 100% proud of what I've made today, I think it is better than what I had before. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated. ArrivalJust Another Day Mike Anderson was riding his bike to school, as he usually did. Spring break had just ended and the weather was horrible. It was constantly cloudy or rainy with everything always being casted in shadows almost all day. It was strikingly similar to his mood, dark, dreary, and lonely. He wasn't very much of a social guy, his nightmares made sure of that. The few friends he ever had all left him whenever he'd tell them about his dreams. Mike was the laughingstock of the school, known as the skinny kid who never stood up too a fight and hated large crowds. He hated it here, at Challenger, the name even helped set the idea that it was dismal here, seeing as it was based off a failed space flight. As he pulled up, he spotted the one that usually tried to hurt him the most, Jaythen, walking down the sidewalk across from him. Mike immediately swerved his bike behind a pole, almost ramming into a concrete railing as he tried to avert Jaythen's gaze. He thankfully avoided his wrath as Jaythen never even noticed him. Probably too immersed in that smart-phone of his Mike thought bitterly, he wasn't the poorest kid around, but he was jealous that a brat like Jaythen got all the cool smartphones while he had to deal with old half-broken flip-phones. After Mike locked up his bike he headed to his locker, dodging and weaving around the other students, not very eager for a confrontation. Once there, he hastily put all of his stuff in his locker and grabbed what he needed for the day, not really wanting to discuss the current rumors. There were rumors going around the nation. That an island the size of Texas appeared in the middle of the indian ocean and that it was surrounded by a pink wall. It was quite a stupid notion though, Mike knew the media could be more creative than that when they wanted to draw attention. Just as he was closing his locker, he heard the one voice he didn't want to hear, "Hey, Toothpick!" came the rough voice of Jaythen as he walked up behind Mike. Mike immediately got up and tried to book it, but it was too late as Jaythen already had a hold of his shirt collar and was pulling him back, not caring how much he was choking. Mike had always has been abnormally skinny, no matter how much he ate, he would never gain weight, although he was also above average in height, this shape earned him the name "Toothpick." Mike wheezed as he was shoved against his locker, with Jaythen wearing his usual smirk. "Toothpick, you know what day it is?" he said in a sing-song voice. Mike barely managed to shake his head no. "Today marks the one-year anniversary of our first meeting, which means we should celebrate by re-enacting our first encounter!" Jaythen grinned maniacally. Mike's eyes widened as he recalled that the first time they met, he beat Mike to a pulp for bumping into him. He immediately started struggling to get free so he could get away, but Jaythen's grip was too strong. "Please don't do it, I will do anything!" Mike pleaded, but Jaythen's smirk only widened. Then the punching began, and then the kicking, all he could hear was the laughter of Jaythen and his friends around him as he was beaten, but Jaythen didn't stop after a minute, he kept going, not stopping even when his friends started getting worried about how much Jaythen was beating Mike up. Mike was in a world of pain, no one was going to help him, he knew that, but that didn't get rid of the pain that was both emotional and physical. Mike tried a desperate defense and punched Jaythen in the stomach, but that only enraged Jaythen as he only heightened his attack. Not stopping even as Mike felt a rib break. Then Mike snapped. Mike got a sudden burst of anger, stronger than any anger he has ever felt. He was tired of being mistreated and abandoned and bullied. His injuries only adding fuel to the fire. "No More" Mike said as he rolled away from Jaythen faster than most could react and stood up. Jaythen smirked as if expecting a fun fight, but then took on a look of horror and backed up in shock. Mike didn't know why he did that, but he took the opportunity to punch him in the face and then shove him into the lockers. He kept punching until he realized everyone was staring in terror as well. It hit home with him as he recognized those expressions. They were the same from his nightmares. He looked back down to Jaythen, who he saw scrambling away who was still staring at him in horror. Jaythen got back to his feet and started stammering "St-stay away from me f-f-freak!" Mike was at a loss for words at this point, but caught a glimpse of something in the reflection of his locker mirror and It made my heart drop into an abyss, abolishing any anger he had and replacing it with a sinking feeling. His pupils were blue and slitted. Mike had gone into shock and had froze. The terror he was feeling was immense, because he could voices and for the first time, they were real. Everyone around him was yelling, screaming, and throwing things at him. He didn't even feel the books and binders hit him as he had retreated into his own mind. He could only see Darkness, and feel the endless accusations against him, weighing him down, breaking him. Mike was pulled out of his trance as Jaythen ran up and smashed a laptop across his head. "FREAK!" he had yelled. It had hurt but, surprisingly Mike didn't fall from it or even bleed. It only made the terror grow in everyone's eyes. Mike, broken and hated ran, trying to get away from the nightmare that this day had become. He ran, and ran, desperate to just get as far away as possible, Mike was wheezing and shivering as he ran up the steps to his house. He hastily grabbed his key, unlocked the door and threw himself inside and slammed the door closed as if trying to keep out a hoard of zombies. His parents wouldn't be home until five so he didn't have to give them an excuse about why he was home so early. He collapsed to the ground and cried himself to sleep as the nightmares came crawling in. It was Half past noon by the time Mike woke up and he was feeling no better than before. He anxiously made his way to the bathroom, scared the see what would be in the mirror. To his thankfulness his eyes were no longer slitted which calmed him down a lot, but then seized up when he realized his iris' was still blue, not their regular bright green. He just gave up at that point of making sense of anything and trudged out of the bathroom dejected and wanting to take his mind off of the days events. He got on T.V. and tried to watch a cartoon, but it just pained him more to see how happy the characters were. He tried playing some Video Games, but he just couldn't focus on them. Mike decided to just turn on the news and see what the reporters were saying about the "island" that appeared in the middle of the ocean. He suspected that it'd still be vague as before and as dumb as before, but what harm could come from that? He pulled up the news and was immediately flooded with images of naval ships from a helicopter view as they floated near the "barrier" as some were calling it. Then the reporters voice came through. "-re live here at the magic island that has caused a media storm as the Australian Navy sends a drone into the pink wall." The camera zooms in a drone as it flies towards the endless sea of pink and then slows down as it gets close, the moment it goes through it disappears, although land is visible beyond the wall, the drone vanishes as if it never existed. Mike was lost in thought as the reporters rambled about how it disappeared, but attention was caught again when he heard the reporter shout "My god, look at that." There were specks on the other side of the barrier, gradually getting larger, then passed right through. Mike was surprised to see some flying creatures come through, hard to make out due to the distance, but they appeared to have something raised. The reporter in his awe dropped the camera and the feed cut out. The camera came back on and I nearly fell out of my chair as I say flying equines that looked too close for comfort with the creatures in my dreams. I calm myself down and keep watching as they flight towards one of the ships with a white flag raised. They land and they converse with a the captain of said ship. After a while of tense anticipation, a bright flash is seen on screen, the color drains from Mike's face, thinking they were attacked, but the flash fades and what is left behind makes Mike jump up so fast he hit the fan. He would recognize her anywhere even if she looked slightly different "Greeting, I am Queen Celestia, I wish to converse with your leader." Author's Note This took a lot longer than I thought it would to make. Not very proud of it but I did my best, Critique is appreciated. Rising TensionsTwo Years Later After the incident at the school, Mike had decided to do homeschooling. His parents and the school staff never really figured out what happened that day, the camera feed was broken for the entirety of his fight, they eventually just chalked it up to severe harassment and left it at that. They didn't believe the few students who did tell them what happened as it sounded crazy. A frail boy all of the sudden becomes incredibly strong and take a laptop to the face and doesn't even flinch? Sounds insane, if he were anyone else he'd agree, but his still blue eyes said otherwise Then the Equestrians arrived. No one truly knows how they got to Earth, not even the ponies. Things were fine at first, they had access to magic, the stuff of legends! They could heal most illnesses with their magic and even cure cancer! The world powers exchanged knowledge for pony workers, as anything on Earth couldn't pass through the barrier as people were calling it, except ponies. The applications for magic were nearly endless. If Mike didn't have all these nightmares he'd totally agree with all of this, he used to aspire to be an astronomer and physicist. The vast emptiness of space always fascinated him and he wanted to explore it and uncover it's mysteries. Then the incident happened and he was homeschooled, this shattered his dreams, as his parents weren't the richest around and couldn't get him a tutor.Things finally seemed to be settling down though, Mike had fallen into a routine and was getting a bearing of what he wanted to do with his life, but then the ponies opened the first conversion bureau. The conversion bureaus was the source of much controversy, It essentially offered a fresh start to practically anyone, but took away their humanity in the process. On one extreme there was Human Liberation Front, a violent protest group that hated everything the bureaus stood for, on the other there was the Ponies for Earth's Rebirth, who viewed ponification as holy and encouraged all humans to take part and become their "better" selves. Mike never really payed much mind to either of these sides, as his opinion stood people could do what they want, although he was definitely not going to a bureau, but after a while, he started getting suspicious of the converted. He would often see a few walking the streets when he went out for a walk, sometimes some would talk to him, but their topic was always the same and it creeped him out. They always talked about how he always looked so sad and that he would be better if he went pony, this offended him of course, he took pride in being human and didn't think changing his entire species would automatically fix his depression. What was worse was their faces, when they looked at him they always had this smile on their face, only he seemed to notice it, but they just seemed wrong and their eyes were always a bit too wide, even the ~~kids~~ foals did it and it made Mike feel quite anxious and never really talk to the "Newfoals" as they were called. Then the barrier that consumed all Earth matter that passed through it started expanding. The governments were beginning to mistrust the ponies as they started putting more emphasis on the beruas, even the leader, Queen Celestia was encouraging transforming. They kept saying they would fix the issue with the barrier, but they never mentioned it besides "We're working on fixing it." People started getting paranoid and the HLF got a huge wave of popular support. People expected something bad was coming as Queen Celestia had not been showing up to U.N. Meetings and Equestria had stopped contacting other governments. The nightmares just kept getting worse at this point, Mike would constantly see the Newfoals all around him always whispering about how much it would be better to be a pony. At some point he started seeing ponies outside more than people. He still continues to walk though as it helped alleviate the rising tensions at home as his parents argued over ponification, his mom was pushing his dad to sign us up for ponification, while his dad profoundly refused often reiterating the fact that they seemed off and most of time acted like completely different people than who they used to be. They always had big fights about it and Mike just wanted some relative peace, he couldn't stand them fighting, but he could stand the creepy ponies. Today Mike decided to walk an old trail out in the woods behind his house that lead to a great spot for watching the river as the sun set. It was beautiful day outside, the birds were signing, flowers were blooming, on days like these, kids like him should get out more. He admired the beauty of nature, how it didn't seem to care about what conflicts were happening in the world, sometimes he wishes he could be like that, indifferent, able to ignore all the bad things in the world, but NEVER like the ponies. Something was bothering him though, there was lack of animals and the ones he had seen were always panicking and fleeing from some unforeseen force as if it were a predator hunting them. It was a long hike and he wouldn't be there for another fifteen minutes at least. Mike decided it would be better to get a move on as paranoia rippled down his spine, once he even swore he saw a figure watching him. He decided to not look back from now on. Mike broke through the tree line surrounding his special spot, he had heard a twig snap behind him at one point and did the logical thing, running away and screaming a very manly scream. He had ran to his safe spot, and swiveled around waiting for something to jump out of the forest to eat him, but slowly realized nothing was coming and contemplating his stupidity, no-one was following him and there was no big bad monster out to get him, just his own mind playing tricks on him. He turned around and sat down with an exasperated sigh. He sat their for a while, just staring at the afternoon sky appreciating the lack of clouds, the cool air, and the rather large flock of birds heading right over- He did a double take as he realized that the their were far too many dots for a simple flock of birds, and it seemed too far away for it to be anything that small, as they got closer he realized what it was, Pegasi, hundreds of them, maybe even a thousand flying straight over him towards his home-town, all of then carrying little purple vials and some waving the equestrian flag above them. Mike immediately realized what had happened, the dam broke, and out came the war. He also realized this far too late as it looked like one of the pegasi had spotted him and veered off course down to him. He turned to run away but tripped on a root as the pegasus land behind him. "Halt! This area is now under Equestrian jurisdiction, under order from Queen Celestia, it has been instructed to ponify everyone in this area, for their own safety as the barrier has sped up dramatically." Mike's eyes widened, he could he immediately see through this stallion's lies, he said this with a smirk, and obviously didn't want to help people, he just wanted to see Mike ponified for the sake of it. Mike started scrambling backwards as the the pegasus moved closer to him, pulling out a purple vile full of presumably conversion potion. The soldier didn't even take heed of this and kept advancing on him. As he was trying to scramble away he felt around on the ground until he found a decent sized stick and waited until the soldier got a bit too close and threw the stick straight into his face with enough force to cause iron to dent. The stallion staggered back with a hoof to his muzzle as blood leaked out of his nostrils. He looked back up to Mike and glared daggers at him. "Fine then, guess were doing it the hard way you little shit." He leaped forward, and Mike didn't have any time to react as the pegasus whacked him over the head with the vial as it shattered and spilled its contents all over his head and sinking into his skin. Mike completely collapsed as pain overtook him and he convulsed, the stallion standing over him smirking. "Soon you'll be one of us boy, and your feistiness will make a fine addition to our ranks." He barely registered this as he was still experiencing extreme pain, but a part of him was angry, furious even, it felt like Jaythen all over again. Mike fought through the pain and staggered to his feet, the pegasus confused as he wasn't turning into a newfoal. Mike used this opportunity to sucker punch the pegasus in the face knocking him out as he staggered back over the edge of the cliff. Mike collapsed to the ground finally giving into the pain, but at this point it had gotten duller and was fading slowly. He eventually managed to get himself up and his heart dropped as his hearing returned and he started hearing distant booms coming from his town. "Shit." Mike realized that his family was in danger and that everything he ever knew was being destroyed at this very minute, he'd keep what the soldier said in mind as he rushed back towards his house, a gut feeling that he wouldn't make it in time. Ț̶́h̵̰͂e̸̡̎ ̸̲̂̎C̴̨̏y̷͎̲̏c̸̘͍̏̏l̶̤͈͌ḛ̴͗ ̶̼̾̓C̵̱̹͛ö̶́͛͜n̸̹̩͋́t̵͇͊̕i̸̝̭̾n̶̺̤̄u̷̢͌́e̷̩͍̓s̷̲̦͐̔ Twilight was in a bad mood, she had one of those days, the one where nothing went her way and what had just happened had just been the cherry on top to complete her checklist for this being a bad day. She had just gotten a message from Sunset Shimmer from across the mirror portal and it was troubling to say the least. Twilight, this might be my last chance to get this to you so I'll be quick Things have gone to hell here and I'm sealing off the portal from my side. I'd know you would protest this and I know you would want to know what is going on, but something are better left unknown, considering the situation. If the portal ever reactivates then be prepared for something bad. I have to go, they're coming This horrified Twilight as she wracked her brain for reasons Sunset would do this, but came up with none. She had tried everything, writing back, trying to reactivate the portal using the book, even trying to jumpstart it with her magic. Nothing worked. She was worried and she'd take her friend's advice and keep watch on it, hoping she'd someday see Sunset pop through. Although a there a part of her that believed that this wasn't the last she'd hear of the the thing that had caused Sunset to seal the portal. Author's Note Ding, Dong, second chapter is here! We start getting into the more darker elements of the story. Sorry it's not very dialogue heavy, I'm not very comfortable with writing dialogue, although I do try to better myself with the little I do.
PrologueDarkness. Darkness I had known for a very long time. It surrounded me as it always did, begging me to open my eyes and see what horrors would await me. It clouded my mind like a thick blanket, smothering out the cherished memories. I almost wish I could just keep them closed because I knew what was coming. I could already here the voices, accusing, hateful, fearful, all pointed at me. I gave in to the temptation, as I always did, and opened my eyes to a familiar scene. An old castle, looking like it had been abandoned for decades, with foliage over taking the walls and the ceiling being almost non-existent. I hated this dream, it was the one that always scared me the most. It sent chills down my spine and I always woke up either screaming or sweating so hard it had looked like I had gone swimming. I finally decided to take notice of the figure in front of me, although I knew it was always there. It was blurry as it always was and all I could see its hate and fear towards me. I occasionally catch a word or two of what it says, but one word always stands clear to me. "Nightmare." I always hear it in an accusing tone, it burns into my brain as I know that it is directing it at me, as if it is my name. I hear more noises from far behind it, and then although I cant make out any distinct features, I can practically feel the smirk it gives off as it does a one-eighty in it's emotions. It rambles about something that I will most likely never know, but I can make out one word, "Harmony." That word is usually used in the connotation of friendship or happiness, but it is pointed at me like a dagger. All of the sudden five more figures are behind it, watching me, judging me. I still can't make out what the first one is saying but every word feels like I had been punched in the teeth. I didn't move or try to block out the noise, in fact I couldn't control my body at all. Then they all started floating, one by one they all raised in the air by some unforeseen force, each one exploding in color that hurt to look at. The purple one continues it's ramble until I can only see it over the overwhelming amount of color around me. Then all the color coalesce on the purple one and shoot up towards what's left of the ceiling and arching back down straight towards me. I tried to scream and run, but as always, I couldn't move, breath, or even twitch my eye. The rainbow of color surrounded me. It felt like a million wasps were all stinging me at once on every inch of my body. It was excruciatingly painful to the point where I couldn't even think and for those few seconds my entire existence was just pain. It stopped only seconds later, but it felt like an eternity. I feel to the ground finally having somewhat control over my movements, but unable to do much due to my weak state. I looked up to see the six blobs from before surrounding me, but I could now almost make out what they looked like, equines with disproportionate eyes that were all glaring at me, then the kicking started. Slowly they all started kicking me slamming me into the ground. I could feel their smirks of glee and feel their glares burning holes in my brain. Then they all backed off suddenly and I didn't want to waste the opportunity. I tried to get a hold of my self, planting my hands in front of me, except... ... ... all I could see were two hooves. I fell back to the ground in pain, all of the sudden feeling as if I was lit on fire, I glanced to one side and then I see HER. Unlike the other equines I could make her out perfectly clear, and it was terrifying. She looked like a larger, more horse like version of the other ones, except she instilled pure terror in me. It had silted, draconian pupils that raged with a fire that would make the devil cry to his mom. Speaking of fire, her mane raged with an inferno that I could feel from twenty feet away. It had both wings and a horn that were as white as snow and carried itself in a regal posture. What bothered me most was her smile, it seemed like the smirk that all those evil villains from the movies wore, but worse, it seemed unnatural and ingrained itself in my mind. The regal one walked up to me, each step closer feeling like a part of my skin was boiling off. It looked down at me with that same unnatural smile. It lifted it's hoof which had a horseshoe on it that was glowing with what I presume to be heat. As I pondered this, it all of the sudden jerked forward heading right towards my fa- D̸̂ͅ ̷͚̓a̴͓͗ ̵͖͌r̵̯̈ ̶̪̀k̵̦̄ ̷̱͂ ̵̯̆n̶̟͊ ̸͙͑e̷̠͊ ̷̛̳s̶̰͠ ̵͓̂s Mike woke up with a start, heaving in and out with ragged breaths, like he had just ran a marathon. He slammed his hand down on his beeping alarm clock and looked around the room in the early morning darkness and landed on his medication with a glare "Stupid Piece of Junk!" he yelled as he through the thing across the room. He got up to go to the bathroom and prepare for school. as he always did, it helped with the nightmares, falling into a routine. He almost collapsed as he entered the bathroom, immediately turning on the water and splashing his face with cold water, but nothing could remove the image of the blue slitted eyes in the mirror. Today was off to a great start. Author's Note So I took down this story a few weeks ago because I wasn't updating it and wasn't proud of it. While I'm still not 100% proud of what I've made today, I think it is better than what I had before. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated.
ArrivalJust Another Day Mike Anderson was riding his bike to school, as he usually did. Spring break had just ended and the weather was horrible. It was constantly cloudy or rainy with everything always being casted in shadows almost all day. It was strikingly similar to his mood, dark, dreary, and lonely. He wasn't very much of a social guy, his nightmares made sure of that. The few friends he ever had all left him whenever he'd tell them about his dreams. Mike was the laughingstock of the school, known as the skinny kid who never stood up too a fight and hated large crowds. He hated it here, at Challenger, the name even helped set the idea that it was dismal here, seeing as it was based off a failed space flight. As he pulled up, he spotted the one that usually tried to hurt him the most, Jaythen, walking down the sidewalk across from him. Mike immediately swerved his bike behind a pole, almost ramming into a concrete railing as he tried to avert Jaythen's gaze. He thankfully avoided his wrath as Jaythen never even noticed him. Probably too immersed in that smart-phone of his Mike thought bitterly, he wasn't the poorest kid around, but he was jealous that a brat like Jaythen got all the cool smartphones while he had to deal with old half-broken flip-phones. After Mike locked up his bike he headed to his locker, dodging and weaving around the other students, not very eager for a confrontation. Once there, he hastily put all of his stuff in his locker and grabbed what he needed for the day, not really wanting to discuss the current rumors. There were rumors going around the nation. That an island the size of Texas appeared in the middle of the indian ocean and that it was surrounded by a pink wall. It was quite a stupid notion though, Mike knew the media could be more creative than that when they wanted to draw attention. Just as he was closing his locker, he heard the one voice he didn't want to hear, "Hey, Toothpick!" came the rough voice of Jaythen as he walked up behind Mike. Mike immediately got up and tried to book it, but it was too late as Jaythen already had a hold of his shirt collar and was pulling him back, not caring how much he was choking. Mike had always has been abnormally skinny, no matter how much he ate, he would never gain weight, although he was also above average in height, this shape earned him the name "Toothpick." Mike wheezed as he was shoved against his locker, with Jaythen wearing his usual smirk. "Toothpick, you know what day it is?" he said in a sing-song voice. Mike barely managed to shake his head no. "Today marks the one-year anniversary of our first meeting, which means we should celebrate by re-enacting our first encounter!" Jaythen grinned maniacally. Mike's eyes widened as he recalled that the first time they met, he beat Mike to a pulp for bumping into him. He immediately started struggling to get free so he could get away, but Jaythen's grip was too strong. "Please don't do it, I will do anything!" Mike pleaded, but Jaythen's smirk only widened. Then the punching began, and then the kicking, all he could hear was the laughter of Jaythen and his friends around him as he was beaten, but Jaythen didn't stop after a minute, he kept going, not stopping even when his friends started getting worried about how much Jaythen was beating Mike up. Mike was in a world of pain, no one was going to help him, he knew that, but that didn't get rid of the pain that was both emotional and physical. Mike tried a desperate defense and punched Jaythen in the stomach, but that only enraged Jaythen as he only heightened his attack. Not stopping even as Mike felt a rib break. Then Mike snapped. Mike got a sudden burst of anger, stronger than any anger he has ever felt. He was tired of being mistreated and abandoned and bullied. His injuries only adding fuel to the fire. "No More" Mike said as he rolled away from Jaythen faster than most could react and stood up. Jaythen smirked as if expecting a fun fight, but then took on a look of horror and backed up in shock. Mike didn't know why he did that, but he took the opportunity to punch him in the face and then shove him into the lockers. He kept punching until he realized everyone was staring in terror as well. It hit home with him as he recognized those expressions. They were the same from his nightmares. He looked back down to Jaythen, who he saw scrambling away who was still staring at him in horror. Jaythen got back to his feet and started stammering "St-stay away from me f-f-freak!" Mike was at a loss for words at this point, but caught a glimpse of something in the reflection of his locker mirror and It made my heart drop into an abyss, abolishing any anger he had and replacing it with a sinking feeling. His pupils were blue and slitted. Mike had gone into shock and had froze. The terror he was feeling was immense, because he could voices and for the first time, they were real. Everyone around him was yelling, screaming, and throwing things at him. He didn't even feel the books and binders hit him as he had retreated into his own mind. He could only see Darkness, and feel the endless accusations against him, weighing him down, breaking him. Mike was pulled out of his trance as Jaythen ran up and smashed a laptop across his head. "FREAK!" he had yelled. It had hurt but, surprisingly Mike didn't fall from it or even bleed. It only made the terror grow in everyone's eyes. Mike, broken and hated ran, trying to get away from the nightmare that this day had become. He ran, and ran, desperate to just get as far away as possible, Mike was wheezing and shivering as he ran up the steps to his house. He hastily grabbed his key, unlocked the door and threw himself inside and slammed the door closed as if trying to keep out a hoard of zombies. His parents wouldn't be home until five so he didn't have to give them an excuse about why he was home so early. He collapsed to the ground and cried himself to sleep as the nightmares came crawling in. It was Half past noon by the time Mike woke up and he was feeling no better than before. He anxiously made his way to the bathroom, scared the see what would be in the mirror. To his thankfulness his eyes were no longer slitted which calmed him down a lot, but then seized up when he realized his iris' was still blue, not their regular bright green. He just gave up at that point of making sense of anything and trudged out of the bathroom dejected and wanting to take his mind off of the days events. He got on T.V. and tried to watch a cartoon, but it just pained him more to see how happy the characters were. He tried playing some Video Games, but he just couldn't focus on them. Mike decided to just turn on the news and see what the reporters were saying about the "island" that appeared in the middle of the ocean. He suspected that it'd still be vague as before and as dumb as before, but what harm could come from that? He pulled up the news and was immediately flooded with images of naval ships from a helicopter view as they floated near the "barrier" as some were calling it. Then the reporters voice came through. "-re live here at the magic island that has caused a media storm as the Australian Navy sends a drone into the pink wall." The camera zooms in a drone as it flies towards the endless sea of pink and then slows down as it gets close, the moment it goes through it disappears, although land is visible beyond the wall, the drone vanishes as if it never existed. Mike was lost in thought as the reporters rambled about how it disappeared, but attention was caught again when he heard the reporter shout "My god, look at that." There were specks on the other side of the barrier, gradually getting larger, then passed right through. Mike was surprised to see some flying creatures come through, hard to make out due to the distance, but they appeared to have something raised. The reporter in his awe dropped the camera and the feed cut out. The camera came back on and I nearly fell out of my chair as I say flying equines that looked too close for comfort with the creatures in my dreams. I calm myself down and keep watching as they flight towards one of the ships with a white flag raised. They land and they converse with a the captain of said ship. After a while of tense anticipation, a bright flash is seen on screen, the color drains from Mike's face, thinking they were attacked, but the flash fades and what is left behind makes Mike jump up so fast he hit the fan. He would recognize her anywhere even if she looked slightly different "Greeting, I am Queen Celestia, I wish to converse with your leader." Author's Note This took a lot longer than I thought it would to make. Not very proud of it but I did my best, Critique is appreciated.
Rising TensionsTwo Years Later After the incident at the school, Mike had decided to do homeschooling. His parents and the school staff never really figured out what happened that day, the camera feed was broken for the entirety of his fight, they eventually just chalked it up to severe harassment and left it at that. They didn't believe the few students who did tell them what happened as it sounded crazy. A frail boy all of the sudden becomes incredibly strong and take a laptop to the face and doesn't even flinch? Sounds insane, if he were anyone else he'd agree, but his still blue eyes said otherwise Then the Equestrians arrived. No one truly knows how they got to Earth, not even the ponies. Things were fine at first, they had access to magic, the stuff of legends! They could heal most illnesses with their magic and even cure cancer! The world powers exchanged knowledge for pony workers, as anything on Earth couldn't pass through the barrier as people were calling it, except ponies. The applications for magic were nearly endless. If Mike didn't have all these nightmares he'd totally agree with all of this, he used to aspire to be an astronomer and physicist. The vast emptiness of space always fascinated him and he wanted to explore it and uncover it's mysteries. Then the incident happened and he was homeschooled, this shattered his dreams, as his parents weren't the richest around and couldn't get him a tutor.Things finally seemed to be settling down though, Mike had fallen into a routine and was getting a bearing of what he wanted to do with his life, but then the ponies opened the first conversion bureau. The conversion bureaus was the source of much controversy, It essentially offered a fresh start to practically anyone, but took away their humanity in the process. On one extreme there was Human Liberation Front, a violent protest group that hated everything the bureaus stood for, on the other there was the Ponies for Earth's Rebirth, who viewed ponification as holy and encouraged all humans to take part and become their "better" selves. Mike never really payed much mind to either of these sides, as his opinion stood people could do what they want, although he was definitely not going to a bureau, but after a while, he started getting suspicious of the converted. He would often see a few walking the streets when he went out for a walk, sometimes some would talk to him, but their topic was always the same and it creeped him out. They always talked about how he always looked so sad and that he would be better if he went pony, this offended him of course, he took pride in being human and didn't think changing his entire species would automatically fix his depression. What was worse was their faces, when they looked at him they always had this smile on their face, only he seemed to notice it, but they just seemed wrong and their eyes were always a bit too wide, even the ~~kids~~ foals did it and it made Mike feel quite anxious and never really talk to the "Newfoals" as they were called. Then the barrier that consumed all Earth matter that passed through it started expanding. The governments were beginning to mistrust the ponies as they started putting more emphasis on the beruas, even the leader, Queen Celestia was encouraging transforming. They kept saying they would fix the issue with the barrier, but they never mentioned it besides "We're working on fixing it." People started getting paranoid and the HLF got a huge wave of popular support. People expected something bad was coming as Queen Celestia had not been showing up to U.N. Meetings and Equestria had stopped contacting other governments. The nightmares just kept getting worse at this point, Mike would constantly see the Newfoals all around him always whispering about how much it would be better to be a pony. At some point he started seeing ponies outside more than people. He still continues to walk though as it helped alleviate the rising tensions at home as his parents argued over ponification, his mom was pushing his dad to sign us up for ponification, while his dad profoundly refused often reiterating the fact that they seemed off and most of time acted like completely different people than who they used to be. They always had big fights about it and Mike just wanted some relative peace, he couldn't stand them fighting, but he could stand the creepy ponies. Today Mike decided to walk an old trail out in the woods behind his house that lead to a great spot for watching the river as the sun set. It was beautiful day outside, the birds were signing, flowers were blooming, on days like these, kids like him should get out more. He admired the beauty of nature, how it didn't seem to care about what conflicts were happening in the world, sometimes he wishes he could be like that, indifferent, able to ignore all the bad things in the world, but NEVER like the ponies. Something was bothering him though, there was lack of animals and the ones he had seen were always panicking and fleeing from some unforeseen force as if it were a predator hunting them. It was a long hike and he wouldn't be there for another fifteen minutes at least. Mike decided it would be better to get a move on as paranoia rippled down his spine, once he even swore he saw a figure watching him. He decided to not look back from now on. Mike broke through the tree line surrounding his special spot, he had heard a twig snap behind him at one point and did the logical thing, running away and screaming a very manly scream. He had ran to his safe spot, and swiveled around waiting for something to jump out of the forest to eat him, but slowly realized nothing was coming and contemplating his stupidity, no-one was following him and there was no big bad monster out to get him, just his own mind playing tricks on him. He turned around and sat down with an exasperated sigh. He sat their for a while, just staring at the afternoon sky appreciating the lack of clouds, the cool air, and the rather large flock of birds heading right over- He did a double take as he realized that the their were far too many dots for a simple flock of birds, and it seemed too far away for it to be anything that small, as they got closer he realized what it was, Pegasi, hundreds of them, maybe even a thousand flying straight over him towards his home-town, all of then carrying little purple vials and some waving the equestrian flag above them. Mike immediately realized what had happened, the dam broke, and out came the war. He also realized this far too late as it looked like one of the pegasi had spotted him and veered off course down to him. He turned to run away but tripped on a root as the pegasus land behind him. "Halt! This area is now under Equestrian jurisdiction, under order from Queen Celestia, it has been instructed to ponify everyone in this area, for their own safety as the barrier has sped up dramatically." Mike's eyes widened, he could he immediately see through this stallion's lies, he said this with a smirk, and obviously didn't want to help people, he just wanted to see Mike ponified for the sake of it. Mike started scrambling backwards as the the pegasus moved closer to him, pulling out a purple vile full of presumably conversion potion. The soldier didn't even take heed of this and kept advancing on him. As he was trying to scramble away he felt around on the ground until he found a decent sized stick and waited until the soldier got a bit too close and threw the stick straight into his face with enough force to cause iron to dent. The stallion staggered back with a hoof to his muzzle as blood leaked out of his nostrils. He looked back up to Mike and glared daggers at him. "Fine then, guess were doing it the hard way you little shit." He leaped forward, and Mike didn't have any time to react as the pegasus whacked him over the head with the vial as it shattered and spilled its contents all over his head and sinking into his skin. Mike completely collapsed as pain overtook him and he convulsed, the stallion standing over him smirking. "Soon you'll be one of us boy, and your feistiness will make a fine addition to our ranks." He barely registered this as he was still experiencing extreme pain, but a part of him was angry, furious even, it felt like Jaythen all over again. Mike fought through the pain and staggered to his feet, the pegasus confused as he wasn't turning into a newfoal. Mike used this opportunity to sucker punch the pegasus in the face knocking him out as he staggered back over the edge of the cliff. Mike collapsed to the ground finally giving into the pain, but at this point it had gotten duller and was fading slowly. He eventually managed to get himself up and his heart dropped as his hearing returned and he started hearing distant booms coming from his town. "Shit." Mike realized that his family was in danger and that everything he ever knew was being destroyed at this very minute, he'd keep what the soldier said in mind as he rushed back towards his house, a gut feeling that he wouldn't make it in time. Ț̶́h̵̰͂e̸̡̎ ̸̲̂̎C̴̨̏y̷͎̲̏c̸̘͍̏̏l̶̤͈͌ḛ̴͗ ̶̼̾̓C̵̱̹͛ö̶́͛͜n̸̹̩͋́t̵͇͊̕i̸̝̭̾n̶̺̤̄u̷̢͌́e̷̩͍̓s̷̲̦͐̔ Twilight was in a bad mood, she had one of those days, the one where nothing went her way and what had just happened had just been the cherry on top to complete her checklist for this being a bad day. She had just gotten a message from Sunset Shimmer from across the mirror portal and it was troubling to say the least. Twilight, this might be my last chance to get this to you so I'll be quick Things have gone to hell here and I'm sealing off the portal from my side. I'd know you would protest this and I know you would want to know what is going on, but something are better left unknown, considering the situation. If the portal ever reactivates then be prepared for something bad. I have to go, they're coming This horrified Twilight as she wracked her brain for reasons Sunset would do this, but came up with none. She had tried everything, writing back, trying to reactivate the portal using the book, even trying to jumpstart it with her magic. Nothing worked. She was worried and she'd take her friend's advice and keep watch on it, hoping she'd someday see Sunset pop through. Although a there a part of her that believed that this wasn't the last she'd hear of the the thing that had caused Sunset to seal the portal. Author's Note Ding, Dong, second chapter is here! We start getting into the more darker elements of the story. Sorry it's not very dialogue heavy, I'm not very comfortable with writing dialogue, although I do try to better myself with the little I do.
