William glanced around the room for a moment, shortly after it being locked up by Cocoon. He was left alone with the changeling queen, but made no effort to try to open the door to get out.

“You’re right,” he said, “I don’t really have to go, do I?”

“Of course not!” Cocoon said, standing and making her way toward him. “And, because we’re both officially together...”

She then sprang herself upright with her forelegs, transforming in the process to an anthropomorphic version of herself... a very busty and curvy version, for that matter! William froze, his eyes wide and his face immediately going red, as Cocoon slowly approached, her wide hips swaying to and fro, tail subtly whipping, as she did so. Her hind legs kept their hooves, but she now had human hands, as well as overall physique. Plus... she was pretty much nude, with nipples and genitalia fully exposed.

Towering over him by about a foot, she wrapped her hands behind the back of his neck, pulling him close to her... his face going right into her cleavage. William, absolutely paralyzed, was unable to make any sort of remark about what she just did.

“...who’s to say we can’t have ourselves... a bit of fun?” Cocoon said.

Hohhhh... William’s mind moaned, ...TITTIES! I’ve got my face right in between a pair of MASSIVE, SQUISHY TEATS!

His member pressed firmly against the front of his trousers in protest of the apparel blocking it. He looked up at his changeling girlfriend.

“Oh, yes! Absolutely!” William responded, his mouth still muffled by Cocoon’s boobs.

“But...” Cocoon spoke, gently pushing him back, “...it’ll need to come at a cost. After all, nothing is ever truly free, is it?”

William darted his eyes about for a moment. “...Wh-what do you have in mind...?”

Cocoon smiled again. “I understand you’re great at drawing and painting, Willy... and I want my likeness to be captured by your hand. And then... you’ll get your commission payment.”

With that, she conjured a large, blank canvas on a stand, and next to it was a table with a large assortment of oil paints, brushes, palette knives, a rinsing bucket with water, and a dry palette. Suddenly realizing what she had in mind, William wasted no time making his way over to the art equipment she just spawned.

“Now...” Cocoon said, laying on the sofa on her side, an arm behind her head and one leg slightly forward from the other, “...draw me like one of your French girls!”

Ohhh... William thought, grabbing a rigger brush in his right hand, and the palette in his left, ...this’ll be a fun project!

Marlene, Eric, Mrs. Milton, Clara, Mark, and John all turned up at William’s house. Once they were all parked, they made their way to his front door. Marlene then rang the doorbell.

“William?” She called through the door. “You okay, sweetheart?”

No response came.

“Well where is he?” Eric asked.

“He’d better not keep us waiting!” Mrs. Milton demanded.

Marlene knocked on the door this time. “William?”

Again, there was only dead silence behind the door. Marlene opened the door, letting herself inside.

“William, are in you in here?” She called.

With that, the group made their way inside. They all started searching the small prefab.

“Wow...” Clara said, glancing around, “...kinda glad I rejected him. Seems like he’s too poor for my liking.”

“He really needs to learn how to invest a little better,” Eric remarked.

Marlene made her way into the closet, where she saw the giant tome sitting on a TV tray in the middle of the room. Her eyes went narrow.

“What the...? Where did he get this from?” She said to nobody in particular, picking up the book.

She brought it out into the main kitchen/dining/living room combo area, where everyone got a look at it when she put it down on the dining table, flipping through the blank pages

“What is it?” Mrs. Milton asked.

“I have no idea,” Marlene said. “I’ve never seen it before.”

Mark and Jon both stepped forward.

“I feel like I’ve seen this before...” Mark spoke, placing his hand on a page.

The tome began to glow and hum, prompting everyone to step forward, their eyes wide and jaws agape.

“The hell...?” Clara muttered.

Everyone else remained speechless, watching as the light grew brighter, filling the room. Soon, it enveloped them completely. Once the light faded, they had all vanished, into the tome’s realm.

“AAAAAAAAAAH...!” Everyone screamed as they fell.

After a bit, they slowed to a halt just short of the ground below. Once they all got their bearings, they took a look around.

“That’s just not okay!” Mrs. Milton whined. “I’m OLD! I could’ve had a HEART ATTACK and DIED!”

“Never mind the fall,” Eric said, looking around, “where the hell are we?”

“Let’s head for that town, and ask for directions,” Clara said, pointing to a nearby community. “Maybe someone there has seen William?”

They all agreed that it was their best option at this point. So, they set off on a walk toward the town (having to walk slowly for Mrs. Milton, sometimes needing to help her). All the while, they continuously took in the absolute perfection this strange, new world had to offer.

“I’ve heard of people being ‘into books’...” Clara spoke, looking around, “...but this just throws that metaphor out the window!”

“I agree,” Marlene said. “I really don’t know what’s going on here...”

After a short walk, they arrived in the town, and saw that it was inhabited by a bunch of solid-color, faceless, quadrupedal beings, doing things one would expect in a community; walking, manning shopping stalls, using construction equipment, dining, etc. Needless to say, the six humans were all very confused at this point, more so than the fact that they just entered another world through a magical book.

“What... are they?” Jon asked.

Clara narrowed her eyes. “...They kinda look like those My Little Pony toys, but life-size or something.”

“Maybe one of them knows where William is?” Marlene asked.

With that, they spread out, trying to speak to the faceless equine beings.

“Hey, you,” Eric said, tapping a regular pedestrian pony on the back. “You seen a young man named William Schaeffer anywhere?”

The faceless pony ignored him completely, both voice and touch, as well as presence altogether. But he was not the only one to have this problem with communication.

“Excuse me,” Marlene spoke to a faceless mare sitting on a public bench, “have you seen a browned-haired boy around here?”

Like with Eric, there was no response. This was the case for everyone; it seemed like the beings of this world were completely ignoring their existence altogether. Most of the human visitors all reconvened in the town’s center plaza.

“What’s the deal? Why won’t any of them talk to us?” Jon asked.

“They’re all just being very rude!” Mrs. Milton said.

Marlene looked around at the lively community... which felt very synthetic to the humans. “I don’t know... it’s like they’re just on autopilot, like robots, or something.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mark said, making his way over to a stallion.

He held the faceless equine in place with one hand, making it scrape its hooves across the pavement as it continued to try to walk.

“Think you can ignore me, huh?!” Mark shouted, before he started repeatedly punching the stallion where it’s face was supposed to be.

Still, it was completely unresponsive even to being hit. Regardless, he continued to just let his frustration take hold and hit the drone of a pony repeatedly.

“Hold on...” Clara said, peering down another road at something approaching them, “...those ones are speaking like normal people!”

A group of armored ponies, resembling constabulary officers, walked briskly toward them. The lead stallion was the only one with a face, oddly.

“Halt! Intruders!” He shouted as his squad made their way toward the group of humans. “You do not belong here!”

Marlene’s eyes went wide. “Uh-oh... we’d better run!”

With that, all the humans ran down an adjacent road... except for Mark, who was still punching the stallion, trying to make it acknowledge him. Jon grabbed his friend by the arm, pulling him away.

“C’mon, dude!” He said. “We gotta move!”

“Return to your world, immediately!” The faced officer shouted at them, continuing pursuit. “Leave now, or face the consequences!”

“Fuck the po-lice!” Mark shouted, flipping the guard off.

He picked up a loose brick, hurling it at the faced guard. It was just about to hit him... but deflected off some invisible energy field, which became visible for a split-second when it made contact. Mark’s jaw fell in disbelief.

“The hell?!” He cursed. “That’s not fair! We can’t hurt them!”

They made their way to the edge of town, where there was a river and a small dock with some boats.

“Quick!” Eric said. “We’ll take a boat! They won’t catch us with the current!”

With that, they took a skiff large enough to hold them all, undocking and pushing away from the dock, paddling downstream. The guard captain and his squad stopped at the edge of the dock.

“Quick!” He said to his subordinate officers. “We’ll catch them at the waterwheel!”

The six humans paddled as fast as they could down the river, trying to make it past the millwheel before the constabulary would catch them. However, the stream narrowed, and their pursuers were gaining... there was very little chance they could pull off such a tricky escape. However, just when they began to resign themselves to the inevitable...

“EXCELSIOR!” Came a female voice on the other side of the river.

A grapnel hook, attached to a long rope, latched onto the rim of the skiff, pulling them all toward the opposite bank. The one pulling it happened to be a human. They were female with long, flowing, blonde hair, wearing silver armor, a long, green cape, and a protective headdress. A long rapier sword, with a very ornate handguard, sat in a scabbard on her hip. Once they were on the bank, the girl stopped pulling, placing one of her metal-plate boots on the rim of the boat.

“Ah, fear not, intrepid explorers!” She said. “For I am but a human, such as thou! A rare sentient being to be spawned as a result of Magigenesis! And I am ecstatic to see thou art unscathed!”

“Oh, good...” Clara said, “...you can actually talk! But... why can’t those other beings?”

“While all of us are artificial beings, fabricated through Magigenesis...” the heroine spoke, “...there exist some of us who possess genuine sentience, as well as facial features, such as myself! We happened to have been spawned by accident!”

“And...” Mrs. Milton spoke, bewildered, “...just who might you be?”

“I am but a rogue,” the heroine girl said, flourishing her rapier, “a maverick, a renegade, working tirelessly to end the reign of the dreaded, changeling Tyrant Queen!”

“Tyrant Queen...?” Eric asked, raising a brow.

The heroine nodded. “She be’th the one whose henchmen were thy pursuers. And she hath taken a certain tall, thin, brunet male human as her prisoner, deep within the bowels of her impenetrable, undetectable, behemoth of a fortress.”

“William!” Marlene chimed in.

"Yes," the heroine continued. "And it is there where she shall force his hand into marriage, making him into her captive King!”

“Aw, hell no!” Mark said. “No way am I lettin’ that little bitch be a king!”

“We gotta go save my son!” Marlene said.

“Never fear, brave travelers,” the heroine said. “For I shall go forth, and rescue thine friend and family member, and thou shalt follow this stream back to their realm.”

She then pushed the boat back into the stream, prompting Eric and Mark, who were padding, to start doing so back toward the bank.

“Hey, stop!” Eric said.

“Fare thee well!” The heroine said, waving.

“No, no, no!” Marlene said.

They attempted to re-shore themselves, but the heroine tried to stop them by putting her boot at the bow.

“What art thou doing?!” She asked. “I insist to do this by my own effort! Thou doth not need to endure such peril!”

Despite her continued protests to go at it alone, the heroine met resistance from the other six humans. Eventually, Jon stepped in, pushing her back, and Eric and Mark plowed themselves onto the shore, with everyone quickly getting out of the boat.

“So...” the heroine spoke, her tone less enthusiastic, “...thou insist on accompanying me in the quest?”

“Yeah, no shit!” Eric said. “What, did you think we were doing all that paddling and screaming for nothing?”

The heroine sighed. “Very well... but heed my words of caution! The path to the royal castle of the Tyrant Queen is but a perilous one! She now knows thou art within her realm, and shall stop at nothing to prevent thou from stealing away her future King! The path is warped and treacherous... the realm itself bends to her every whim... and many illusions obscure the mere perception of the castle! Such shall not be an easy tribulation! Chances are that one, or more, shall perish on the journey!”

“That doesn’t matter!” Marlene said. “I’m not going anywhere without my sweet baby!”

“However...” the heroine continued, “...so long as we stay together as one, we shall overcome any obstacle that standeth in our path to victory!” She drew her narrow blade, raising it skyward. “EXCELSIOR!”

She then ran at a brisk pace, sword pointed ahead... in the direction of the portal. Everyone immediately realized this.

“Uh...” Clara spoke, “...we just came from that way!”

The heroine stopped, looking back, and then corrected her heading.

“EXCELSIOR!” She repeated, this time running in the correct direction.

After a long while of walking (with Mrs. Milton getting tired), the seven humans made it to a large cornfield... and among the stalks were some strange creatures that resembled Chain Chomps without eyes or chains.

“Brave warriors...” the heroine said, “...we are about to enter the first obstacle in the path to the Tyrant Queen’s lair, the harrowing Fields of the Forsaken! I must warn thee that thou may not survive! ‘Tis not too late to turn back and return home.”

“We’re not stopping!” Mark said. “Schaeffer’s still got hell to pay!”

The heroine nodded. “Very well, then. Proceed at thine own risk!”

She then drew her rapier and charged into the fields.

“I shall meet up with you further on!” The heroine said.

“Wait!” Marlene said. “Where are you going?!”

The heroine did not answer as she got deeper into the fields. In fact... it seemed like she disappeared completely.

“Now what?” Jon asked.

Mark cracked his neck. “Screw it, let’s just go!”

With that, he charged into the fields, reckless-abandon. Reluctantly, the others did the same as well. Unfortunately, they caught the attention of the teeth creatures, which immediately pursued the humans. They ran as quickly as they could, the creatures still gaining all the while.

Improvising on the spot, Clara grabbed an ear of corn from a stalk, chucking it into the mouth of one creature following her. It immediately stopped, chewing the ear, and distracted from anything else.

“Everyone pull the corn!” Clara shouted, throwing the stuff at the teeth-creatures. “Feed it to them! It slows them down!”

The rest of the group happened to hear, and started doing what she did, grabbing the corn and tossing it into the creatures’ mouths, prompting them to stop and finish eating it, giving everyone more time to get to the other side of the cornfield.

Upon reaching the end, they encountered the heroine already there, who nodded and grinned, impressed.

“Well done, adventurers!” She said, before a serious look overtook her face. “However, that was merely the first of many trials ahead, for we are now at the start of the perilous Jungle of Japes! Recall that I warned thee! I can make it through most easily, but thou art most certainly doomed!”

“Oh, we can get through this!” Jon said.

With that, the young man ascended a short hill where some hanging vines laid, their ends dangling against the earth. He grabbed one, and started swinging. As he swung, a pie came flying at him from nowhere, which he promptly dodged, the pastry narrowly missing his face.

“Heh,” he briefly chuckled, “easy as pie!”

“Come on, let’s go, people!” Eric said, making his way for the vines as well.

Everyone was soon swinging their way through the jungle, dodging flying prank-obstacles, such as ink-spraying pens, glue and feathers, and water balloons, just to name a few. Soon enough, they made it through, where the heroine awaited them, as before.

“Well...” Mrs. Milton said, “...I don’t know if I can take much more of this...”

“Thou would be wise to heed the words of the wise elder!” The heroine said, motioning at Mrs. Milton. “For ahead lies yet another trial... the dark, bottomless Sea of Sorrows!”

“This is getting really difficult...” Marlene said, before she held her shoulders back, narrowing her eyes at the path ahead, “...but for William, I will do anything!”

Jack sat impatiently, listening to the phone ring, as it has been doing for the past several times he called.

“Where the hell is that boy...?” He muttered to himself.

Once more the answering machine picked up: “Hello, this is William Schaeffer’s residence. I’m not home right now, so if could leave me a callback number and a brief--”

Jack hung up the receiver firmly in frustration, growling. “He’s been skipping out on his responsibilities for too damn long! That’s it! I’m going to be having a word with him the first moment I get...”

He did, however, have his own work to worry about at the moment, and could not afford to miss out on it. Once he was done for the day, only then would be try again to get in touch with William. Needless to say, it was pissing the middle-aged man off that the young man he viewed as a servant was being so inconsiderate and refusing to communicate.

After making through a number of other obstacles, the six visiting humans, accompanied by the heroine, continued on their way to Cocoon’s castle.

“Most admirable, such determination thou possess!” The heroine commented. “However, my friends... this is thy last chance to turn back, and I suggest thou taketh it! For what lies ahead is of greater horror than the Fields of the Forsaken... more terror-invoking than the Jungle of Japes... and more deterring than the Sea of Sorrows! I regretfully lead you to... THE GONDOLA OF GARGANTUAN AGONY!”

She directed their attention to a gondola. It looked very simple and unintimidating, comprising of a platform with guardrails, suspended on a pair of wires. On the gondola, however... there were a set of seven piano-style keyboards, the one at the front playing one note at a time, the played key illuminating as it depressed. One keyboard, however, was on the cliffside rather than with the other six on the gondola itself.

“ ‘Gargantuan Agony’?” Mark asked, before rasping. “This thing’s nothin’!”

He rushed onto the gondola, up to the front keyboard. The heroine extended a hand in his direction.

“Sir Mark, NO!” She shouted.

“Oh, oh!” Mark said, sarcastically. “What EVER shall I do? For my head will SURELY explode if I am to press but a single key!”

He then touched a key on the piano, which played the middle-C.

“Dear God Almighty!” Mark spoke, exaggerating further. “If I play but one more note, my eyes shall BURN out of their sockets!”

He touched another random key... but a buzzer sounded, and the keyboards all inverted their colors. The gondola shook for a moment, and Mark, startled, bolted right off of it, right at the very moment before it detached from its lines, plummeting into the valley below. He fell as this happened, looking back at the empty space where the gondola was.

“The hell?!” Mark cursed. “That’s messed up, dude!”

The gondola then reappeared, fading in with a high hum. Once it fully rematerialized, the lead keyboard started the song again. Mark stood back up, and everyone else observed the gondola from a distance.

“What did I tell thou?” The heroine said, stepping in front of the group, trying to force them back the way they came. “Come now, adventurers! We must return thou to thy plane of reality, posthaste!”

“Hold on...” Marlene said.

“No time!” The heroine said. “I shall save William! I gave thou my word!” She held a closed fist to her chest.

“Just...” Eric began “...why are you so hellbent on getting us to go back?”

“Thou saw what hath happened to the gondola, no?” The heroine said. “Much too dangerous! I cannot risk innocent lives!”

“We’re gonna find the boy, no matter what!” Mrs. Milton. “We need him around!”

“Hold on...” Marlene said, looking carefully at the lead keyboard on the gondola, “...I think I know how we can get the gondola to move!”

“How?” Clara asked.

“Watch the notes...” Marlene said, pointing, “...after it plays the song one time, it repeats. So, I think that, if we hit the keys in the correct order that they are played, and copy the whole song, it’ll take us to the other side. Mark, the first key you hit was the right one, but the second one was wrong.”

She walked onto the gondola, and pressed the same key as before, followed by the second one in the correct sequence. The others yelped in fear... but nothing happened. She then continued following the keys.

“See?” Marlene said as she played. “It’s not that hard!”

Suddenly, another keyboard started its own pattern. The sound of it caught her attention.

“It started another part of the song!” Marlene said. “Everyone jump on in, and wait for your part to come up!”

With that, the other group members start playing their parts on their own keyboards as they came up, adding additional harmonies in addition to the main melody to the song. None of them knew how to play the piano; it was like some sort of metaphysical force was guiding their hands... giving them the ability to flawlessly copy the song. They were all getting into it, and started stepping and rocking back and forth to the song. The tune was catchy and upbeat.

“We’re almost to the end of the song!” Marlene said, turning the heroine, who stood at the landlocked keyboard. “Take us on home, hero!”

For a moment, the heroine played the song along with them... before her eyebrows pointed downward, and her lips curled into a sinister smile. Out of nowhere, just as the song was about to complete its outro... she brought her right hand to the highest note, striking it, and triggering the “wrong” buzzer. Everyone gasped.

“NO!” Marlene said.

The gondola shook for a moment, and before anyone could react, it snapped free of its line, just like before.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!” The group screamed as they plunged into the ravine.

The heroine peered over the cliffside, watching as the transport device fell deeper toward the ground below.

“...Got them!” She said to herself, triumphantly.

She then stood, quickly leaving the area. And she seemed to going someplace in particular...

Author's Note

Wow... eight chapters in, and only two people have commented thus far? How am I supposed to know if there's anything that could be improved, or possibilities that could be suggested, without feedback?