PonyPark

Chapters

Emily
Matthew
Jasmine
Robert
Oliver
Genevieve

Emily

If there was any girl that would be the personified definition of a “spoiled brat”, than it would be the four-year old Pennsylvanian red-hair named Emily.

Her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Harper, would constantly belittle her every time she acted out, when she was called on for talking during a lecture or throwing a tantrum when things didn’t go her way. She even got herself a trip to the principal’s office once. Her parents tried to reprimand this behavior, but nothing often worked.

This problem only worsened when the girl found a new interest: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, a widely popular girl’s cartoon that surprisingly attracted a wide variety of audiences, with the cable ratings only growing every time a new episode premiered. Emily caught onto the craze after some kids in her class were talking about it, and soon enough, she was hooked. The colorful characters and the magical world of Equestria filled her daydreams. She started a doll collection of her own, after begging her parents to get her all six figures of the main ponies along with a pink Princess Celestia toy.

But the pony she loved most was none other then the party pony, Pinkie Pie. When Emily watched the show, she saw herself in the earth pony, as the mare was to do whatever she pleased when she pleased, and was just as outspoken as the human. Emily wished she was allowed to be as carefree as Pinkie without being scolded by teachers or her parents. She even imitated things that the pony did in the show in real life any moment she’d get the chance.

Anything she wanted, her family would get it for her, especially when it came to the question of birthday gifts. Every year on February 12th, or the weekend near it, a huge party would be thrown in her honor with all of her friends around, most of those being the neighbor’s kids. It was always very loud year after year, which was the nightmare of any parent, but a joy to Emily.

The upcoming weekend was her fifth birthday, and Emily was expecting her parents to allow her to send out invitations to her kindergarten class. It would have been the first time she’d do so, as preschool hadn’t exactly given her the chance. However, she grew nervous as the days of the week passed, with no promise of a party of any kind came from her parents.

This notion had made Emily noticeably angry, and when she finally confronted her parents the night before her birthday, they told her that they would unveil a special surprise for her the next morning. She protested, even trying to cry to win over her parents, but nothing worked, so she just marched off to bed angrily, forcing herself to be patient until morning.

Emily was awoken by her parents early the next morning, around five, with the first thing she saw being three slips of paper that looked like tickets. She was confused at first, asking them what they were, but they only brought her over to their white sedan, and she noticed that large suitcases had been in the trunk. As her father settled her into the backseat, she posed a few questions.

“Daddy, where are we going?” she demanded, getting a bit annoyed.

“You’ll see, sweetheart,” he told her, before getting into the driver’s seat. Emily watched the dark blue sky with the sun barley creeping up into it, and kept giving her parents many ‘Are we there yet’ questions, with every answer being “almost”.

Eventually, when the car pulled up into an airport, her parents finally told her the big news: her birthday gift was a trip to the one and only PonyPark in Orlando. She exploded with joy at this news, and practically ran into the airport from her excitement, her parents having to stop her from going too far off.

Pennsylvania was a long ways away from Florida, but thankfully the flight was only about two and a half hours long. They arrived to their hotel, which had a lovely pony theme to it, specifically wielding a Pinkie Pie bed in the children’s suite in their second-floor room, which Emily loved.

Thankfully, since they had woken up so early, they were able to arrive to the park itself just after it opened for the day. After her mother told an employee that it was her daughter’s fifth birthday, the woman in a pink and purple uniform smiled, and knelt down to Emily. On her uniform was a name tag bearing the word “Melissa”.

“Hi, Emily!” Melissa smiled after kneeling down to Emily’s height. “Somepony told me today was a super special girl’s fifth birthday!”

Emily admired the peppy tone that the employee had in her voice. “It’s my birthday, I’m five today!”

The woman smiled, and Emily noticed she also had red hair like she did, except in a brighter shade. That made her even more excited. “Your hair, it looks like mine!”

“It’s a pretty color,” Melissa exclaimed. “Now, I have a super special party planned for you later, since it’s your birthday today! It’ll take place in SugarCube Corner, right at noon!”

“There’s a SugarCube Corner here?” Emily asked as her expression lit up.

“Of course, silly filly! It looks exactly what you think it’d look like. Remember, be there at noon!” She let out a shrill giggle before walking off, presumably to SugarCube Corner. Emily smiled, thoughts of having a party at SugarCube Corner with the ponies filling her head. She wondered if Pinke Pie would be there, and if they’d have cupcakes as she and the Mane Six would party in her honor. Just thinking about her dreams coming true made her birthday even more amazing.

“Emily, honey, what would you like to do first?” Her father snapped her out of her daydreaming, and many ideas raced through her mind. Maybe she’d ride something first? She was a bit hungry as well. But then again...she could take pictures with the ponies.

“I wanna meet Pinkie!” Emily knew exactly what she wanted right when her dad asked. “And the rest of the Mane Six, too.”

“All right,” her mom smiled, and held Emily by the hand so she wouldn’t get lost in the crowd. Emily thought internally of how badly she wanted to be free; how she could roam around the park as she pleased, but didn’t want to waste any more time before meeting the ponies. It would all be worth it soon enough.

The line to meet each pony, especially Pinkie Pie, had been extraordinary long. It was likely on any Saturday that the crowds would be at an all time high, with the park barely keeping a stable capacity. This had made Emily upset, but she tried to keep her patience for as long as she could. Eventually, the wait for Pinkie had gotten so long that Emily’s parents tried to persuade her to pick a different pony. Emily screamed, alerting the other guests in the other five lines, but came to her senses when her mother alerted her when Rarity, her second favorite pony, had the shortest line.

Was she exactly happy about changing lines? No, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. In front of her was a boy almost a foot taller than she was, with a Rarity shirt on and a doll of the same character in his hand. Emily tapped him on the shoulder, thinking a bit of small talk would make the time pass by faster.

“Hey,” she started, not giving him a chance to react to her gesture. “Wanna hear a knock-knock joke?” It was what Pinkie Pie would do, and the girl liked to imitate the pink pony all the time.

“Uh...” the boy in front of her looked a bit nervous. “Sure, I guess.”

“Knock knock!”

“Who’s there?”

Emily paused for a few moments to keep the suspension. “Boo.”

“Boo hoo?” Asked the boy in front of her, looking confused.

“Why are you crying? I’m just telling a joke!” This earned a laugh out of the other child, and Emily laughed along with him at her own comedy.

“Wow, that was pretty funny,” the boy laughed on, but eventually calmed himself. Emily then noticed his nails, how they were painted purple, and thought of how odd it was to see on a boy. She said nothing, though, but her opinion on them didn’t change.

“What’s your name?” Emily asked, her attention going back to the boy’s face.

“Robert,” the boy replied. “What’s yours?”

“Emily. I’m turning five today!”

“Really?” Robert smiled at her. “Happy birthday!”

“I’m having a party today at SugarCube Corner at noon,” she explained, hoping that he would be able to visit her at her party. “Do you want to come?”

“Well, actually, uh...” Robert suddenly looked a bit nervous. “I’ll be busy. I wanted to go to Canterlot around that time.”

“Oh,” Emily grew sad at the comment. Again, things didn’t turn out like she hoped. But, the day still wasn’t that terrible, so she just smiled. “That’s okay. I hope you have fun.”

Robert noticed that it was his turn next to see Rarity, and bode Emily goodbye, before saying, “Maybe we’ll meet again someday, Emily. Happy birthday!”

Emily smiled. Meeting Robert had made the day just a bit better.

It was almost time for Emily’s party at SugarCube Corner, and the last thing she wanted to do before said party was to ride the gigantic coaster of the park, Sonic Rainboom. The line wasn’t as long as waiting for Pinkie Pie, thankfully, but the family had barley made it. Emily waited excitedly as she grew closer to the coaster, the many turns, loops and the big drop looking more and more enticing.

“Okay, next cart!” The worker in front yelled out, signaling for the next batch of people to load into their seats. Emily and her parents made their way to the front, but the girl was suddenly stopped by the employee, and she saw that the other cart that had just taken off with the previous group in it had stopped out of nowhere. Thankfully, it had barley just started to move onto the track, so nobody was suspended up into the air.

For Emily, however, this made her absolutely explode with anger. Her parents tried to soothe her, and told her the ride would be fixed soon, but she ran off in the crowd, only wanting to head to SugarCube Corner. Her eyes darted as she ran through an ocean of people and she looked for the familiar building that resembled a house made of sweets.

An aroma of baked goods and sweets made its way to her nose, signifying that she was close. She looked in front of her, and saw the iconic sugary-sweet bakery that looked nearly identical to how it looked like in the show. Quickly running towards the pink door, Emily entered the bakery, the smells of sweets now overpowering any of her other senses. Nobody else was in the bakery, except for Melissa, who had been waiting for her behind the restaurant’s counter. The woman recognized the five year old immediately, and went from her spot to where Emily was standing.

“Hi again!” Melissa chimed, a smile never leaving her face. “You’re a bit early, but that’s okay. The party’s always better when it starts sooner!”

Emily looked behind the woman, seeing a large plate of rainbow-iced cupcakes that looked absolutely delicious. Melissa noticed this, and exclaimed to the young girl, “I made them myself! Chocolate and vanilla, baked with love by yours truly.”

Emily smiled, but the happiness inside her quickly faded when she heard a loud BANG from behind her, and she saw that both of her parents had found her. They looked very angry at her, clearly not happy about her running off without warning.

“Emily, that was very inappropriate!” Her mother scolded, pointing a finger directly at her. “How could you just run off like that? We thought we lost you, we were very worried!”

“I’m sorry, mom—“

“You can say you’re sorry when we drive our rental car back to the airport,” her mother grabbed her by the wrist forcefully, and walked back towards the pink colored door as Emily whined in protest.

“WAIT!” Emily looked back at Melissa, and saw that the red-haired woman had a shocked look on her face. “It’s her birthday, a-and the party just started! Do you really want to cut the party short? I even made cupcakes just for her!”

Emily’s father looked to Melissa, to Emily, and back to her mother hesitantly. He then said, “Honey, it’s her birthday.”

Her mom sighed, looking back at Melissa. “All right. We can stay. I’m sorry, Emily, I was just so worried,” she pulled her daughter into a tight hug. “I don’t want anything to happen to my only daughter while we’re here.”

“Well, I’m going to make sure that your little angel is one hundred and one percent safe every second she’s here!” Melissa’s voice grew less shaky than before and was back to its normally shrill, peppy tone. “And make sure that she has the most bestest fifth birthday party EVER! So...are we gonna have a party, or what?”

Both her parents laughed behind her. They agreed, and soon enough, the four of them sat at a nearby table, seeing the marvelous array of rainbow frosted cupcakes before them.

Melissa had asked Emily’s parents what flavor cupcake was their favorite, and her mother responded with red velvet, as her father replied with lemon poppyseed. Melissa nodded, and went back to the kitchen for a few minutes, leaving the family of three alone.

“Mommy, Daddy,” Emily began suddenly, “I’m really sorry about running off. I was just upset about the ride.”

“That’s all right, honey,” her father replied. “We know it’s your birthday and—“

“And I’m sorry for always acting out!” Emily interrupted, her voice louder this time. “A-and always acting spoiled, like everything has to go my way...when we get back home, I promise never to do that stuff ever again.”

“Well, what brought this on?” Her mother smiled, seeming very surprised yet pleased at her child’s speech.

“I’ve thought of all those lessons that the ponies teach on the show,” Emily continued. “I finally realized I should learn them and learn to be a better daughter. I’m sorry I’ve been so bad.”

“Oh, Emily...” her mother’s voice was starting to quiver as her eyes began to fill with a couple of tears. “You’re already our perfect little angel.”

“You always have been,” her father’s voice was beginning to shake as well. “And we promise to love you very much. We will always love you until the day we pass.”

“Pass?” Emily asked, not knowing what he meant. He covered his mouth quickly, which made her confused. “Pass what?”

“Well—“

“I’m back!” Melissa had suddenly emerged from the kitchen with two fresh cupcakes she had presumably just baked. “Two red velvet and lemon poppyseed cupcakes, coming right up!” She set down the plates with the treats on them on the purple table, a wide smile still on her face just as before. Both of the other adults looked pleased, and thanked the employee for going out of her way to make them two special cupcakes for no extra charge.

“It’s no problem, really!” Melissa insisted. “I love baking for my friends! Now, how about we sing happy birthday to the special birthday girl?” She looked at Emily, and the little girl giggled in excitement.

After singing the traditional happy birthday song for the fifth year in a row, the two adults took a bite out of their cupcakes, and Emily picked a chocolate cupcake that was in front of her. It was surprisingly tasted even better than she expected; in fact, it was the best cupcake she had ever tasted!

“So,” Melissa started conversation with the young girl’s parents. “What’s Emily like? She seems like the sweetest girl on the planet, with such loving parents, too.” She added a giggle to the end of her sentence.

“Oh, she is,” her mother explained, once she and her father had finished every bit of their cupcakes. “We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect daughter than our dear Emily.”

“Awwww,” Melissa laughed. “That’s so sweet! You must feel so lucky to have her.” She looked directly at Emily, blue eyes meeting the birthday girl’s. It scared Emily a bit, how intently she stared at her, but shook it off the second the woman’s gaze returned to her parents’.

“Melissa, what should we do after the party?” Emily’s father posed a question to the smiling woman.

“Well, I could suggest one thing,” Yet again, Melissa gave a scoff.

“What is it?” Asked her mother.

“You take a nap.”

Emily, as well as her parents, looked at the employee in confusion, but after a few seconds, her parents’ eyes started to flutter, and soon enough, both their heads hit the table with a loud THUD. Emily immediately grew very afraid, asking Melissa what happened to them over and over.

“Melissa, what happened to them?!” The girl started to whimper. “Why did they fall asleep?”

Melissa smiled at her, saying nothing, as the woman suddenly merged into an entirely different creature. Emily watched, becoming even more confused, and she recognized someone familiar who replaced Melissa. A pink party pony with three balloons on her flank.

“Sorry about that!” Pinkie giggled, as Emily shook in her seat with fear. “I had to make sure we were alone before I showed you who I really am.”

“You—“ Emily sobbed, choking on her words. “You killed them!”

Pinkie’s ears dropped down, and her face held a frown. “No, no, no, no! Don’t worry!” She frantically pleaded. “I just had them sleep for a little bit, so we could play!”

“But why couldn’t they watch?” Emily, still upset, demanded an answer.

“Only children are worthy of seeing us!” Pinkie was back to smiling in a flash. “Besides, would you really want them ruining your super special party upstairs with all my friends?”

“...your friends?” Emily stopped crying, after looking at the pink pony before her in surprise. “But you guys aren’t—“

“Of course we’re real!” Pinkie quickly interrupted her, as if she knew Emily was going to ask the question she just did. “We don’t show ourselves much, is all. Adults are so boooring, anyway. With all those dumb rules they make when children should be out in the open, having fun, doing as they please! Wouldn’t you agree?”

“I...”

“Of course you do!” Pinkie screamed, giggling madly. “And, I can even take you to a place with no parents or teachers or any other meanie adults constantly telling you what to do at every turn! Would you like that?” Pinkie looked at her directly, just as she did when she appeared to be Melissa.

“Uh...” Emily had to process the question fully, as Pinkie had spoken it much too fast. “I...that’d be great, actually—“

“Perfect!” Pinkie skipped around with glee, again interrupting Emily. She headed for the stairway beside the counter filled with desserts, and gestured Emily to follow her. Emily nodded, still a bit nervous, but thought on wanting to see if the other ponies really were waiting for her on the second floor.

Pinkie, after finishing walking up the stairs, stopped in front of a door, presumably leading to her room. “Okay, Emily!” She said, growing more excited. Emily noticed a small amount of drool was making its way down her face from her mouth. “Hurry it up, I’m STARVING!”

“Starving? But—“

“For cake!” Pinkie cut her off yet again. “Delicious cake, a-and the party we’ll have together with our friends!” She frantically opened the door, and gestured a hoof inside. Emily entered, seeing a beautifully decorated room with balloons, streamers, and a table with a large birthday cake on it. She gasped loudly, and ran straight to the table, ready to eat the entire thing in one bite. But then, she noticed that the six other chairs surrounding the table were empty.

“Pinkie?” She tried to look for the pink earth pony, but saw that she had miraculously disappeared. “Where are your friends? And where did you go?”

“Riiiight behind you!” Pinkie’s voice shouted from behind Emily’s chair, and the girl yelped in surprise. Pinkie was now back to resembling Melissa, and her alternate appearance smiled at the girl widely. “Sorry about switching so often. I really like this form.”

“Uh...okay,” Emily was getting very confused, but didn’t bother to question things anymore. After all, it was just Pinkie Pie being...well, Pinkie Pie. Or, in this case, Melissa.

Melissa nodded, and she lit up five candles that were neatly placed onto the cake with hot pink and white icing. Giggling with excitement, she ran to the light switch next to the door, and turned it off, making the candles the only thing illuminating the room.

“I’ll be right back from the kitchen,” Melissa said, her voice growing more and more hectic from anticipation. “I’ll get something to cut the cake with!” In a flash, she was gone, leaving Emily alone.

Emily sat at the table by herself, wondering exactly why Pinkie had to knock out her parents. Surely they deserved to see Pinkie Pie just as much as she did, right? She knew that they had sometimes ruined her fun with correcting her all the time, but at the end of the day, Emily still loved them very much. Emily decided that when they woke up, and when her party was over, she decided she’d convince Pinkie Pie to show her parents this special world Pinkie promised to show Emily.

The door opening broke the girl out of her thoughts, and Melissa...or, Pinkie, had returned. Emily saw this as a good opportunity to express her question.

“Melissa—I mean, Pinkie, what’s this place with no adults you talked to me about?” Asked Emily, and Pinkie, still resembling a human, returned to standing behind her chair.

“Equestria, silly filly!” Pinkie laughed, her voice sounding the same as her pony form’s, although she was human once again. “Where you and I and all of my friends will be together forever, and have parties every single day! You’ll never have to worry about anything here ever again!”

“But...” Emily sighed, thinking on what exactly Pinkie had meant. “What about my parents? My friends? And—“

“We’ll talk later, okay?“ Pinkie cut her off again, but this time, her tone grew dark, even a bit sinister. Emily quit asking questions, not wanting to anger her new friend. Besides, since when was she going to get another chance to go to Equestria of all places?

“Okay,” Emily smiled. “After we eat cake, you’ll show me the way to Equestria, right?”

“Of course!” Pinkie seemed like she was in a hurry. “Now sing happy birthday to...well, yourself!” She laughed, even louder than last time.

“Okay,” Emily took a deep breath, staring at the cake with five candles in front of her, ready to sing.

“Happy birthday to...me,” Emily giggled, as this seemed a bit funny. “Happy birthday to—“

Something cold went directly through her stomach. Her entire body went numb with shock for a few seconds, before every inch of her was struck with a burning pain. She tried to scream as loud as she could, to maybe wake her parents, but a pink hoof covered her mouth.

She looked down, seeing that something metal had plunged into her stomach, and a strange red substance was spilling out of her, covering her shirt, the chair, the table, and dripping down onto the floor.

“Happy biiirthday~!” Pinkie was back to resembling a pony again, and was laughing madly as she kept plunging the metal object in the same place as before, the pain in Emily’s body growing every single time the unforgiving steel struck her nerves.

“I! Am! Tired! Of! WAITING~!” Pinkie shouted in a singsong voice, yet her tone remained grim. “SO DIE, YOU LITTLE SHIIIIT~!”

Emily’s vision was growing dark fast, and she managed to choke out a single “Why?” before all she could see were the five candles in front of her as her senses faded.

“I’ll see you in Equestria, silly filly!” was the last thing the birthday girl heard.

Matthew

The day was a bright one, with only a few clouds scattered through the azure sky. Another day where many adults, teenagers and children alike would fill the acres of land filled with magical charm: PonyPark. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic had taken off all over the world, in just a few short months. A seemingly simple television show aimed at little girls had somehow attracted many people from kids to elders alike. Nobody knew why, but there was sure a huge love for ponies. The park had been in development years before the show even aired, as if the motive to even build a park was backed by the knowledge that the show would become immensely popular all around the globe. So, fast forward to 2011, and the park had opened in February in the theme park capital of the world, Orlando, Florida. Disney had surely met its match.

Matthew was not quite fond of it, however. Ponies were supposed to be for little girls, and for little girls only. Ever since all the kids in his class—fourth graders to be exact—started talking about this stupid girl’s show, how they liked it, it made him sick to his stomach. Talks at lunch and recess among his friends about Pokémon, Beyblade and Ninjago were now replaced with conversations about colorful, talking ponies. Even the fifth graders were getting into it.

This eventually made Matthew much more reserved than he used to be, tired of the daily social hours being filled with nothing but questions and dreams of ponies that didn’t even exist. All he wanted to do was stick to boyish things.

Of course, he was not thrilled when his little sister had requested to take a visit to PonyPark in honor of her sixth birthday. Every day she’d watch that horrid show, entertained by the mere vivid colors that it presented each episode. It was only a matter of time when the commercials that played on the TV advertising the amusement park would get her to beg their parents to get each of them tickets.

A red Toyota RAV4 pulled into a nearby parking lot, with a family of four occupying it. Matthew sighed, shifting in his seat, and opened his eyes to find his family had arrived to the place he’d been dreading to go for weeks. He eyed the pink and purple colored park sign from his seat, and just the sight of it made him internally gag in disgust. He wanted to be anywhere but there.

“All right, kiddos, who’s ready to have some fun?” Matthew’s father exclaimed, expecting both kids to raise their voices in excitement. Aliza, Matthew’s little sister, gave a positive reaction, almost jumping from how happy she was. Matthew just sighed, tucking his DSi in his pocket, as the family made their way out of the car and into the park.

It was disgusting.

Too girly. Too pink. Too sweet. Matthew could see it, practically feel it everywhere he looked. Ponies, ponies, and more ponies met his eye as his family entered the main area of PonyPark. He had seen the show a few times, by glancing over at the television any time his sister had watched, but never watched long enough to know much about the world or its characters. Overhearing conversations at school, however, he was able to pick up on two things: one, the land the ponies resided in had the name of Equestria, and two: a blue pony who was boyish.

It had sounded like a relief to him, at first—maybe the show wasn’t as girly as it made itself out to be? But then he shook the thought away immediately, there was no way a show about ponies could appeal in any way to boys...boys like him who weren’t so easy to please, of course.

He glanced around the area a bit more, hearing his sister wanting to meet a pony named Fluttershy. He eyed a roller coaster, one that was multicolored, far away in the distance. It seemed pretty high, for a little girls’ theme park...maybe if he’d ride it he would have a bit of fun?

No. He immediately pushed away the temptation. He was a boy. Ponies weren’t for boys. All he was going to do was stick to his dad while playing on his DSi.

As if on cue, his father tapped him on the shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts. Matthew could see his mother and sister walking away from them, presumably to see the pony they wanted to meet. He looked at his father, as he gave his son a sympathetic look.

“Let’s grab something for lunch, Matthew,” his lips curled in a smile. “I’ve heard the food’s pretty good here. How’s about some nuggets and fries?”

Matthew tried to put on a pleasing act for his father, but eventually his half-smile faltered as he sighed softly. “Dad, I don’t want to be here. I already told you and Mom that I don’t like ponies like everyone at school does.”

“And I don’t think any differently of you, kiddo,” said his father, as he pointed to a nearby restaurant east of where they were. “No girly stuff today for us.”

This made Matthew’s mood go up a bit. He was a bit hungry; maybe something to eat would lighten his day.

“You promise? No girly stuff?” he asked, as he and his father walked towards the restaurant, the crowd shrinking as they went on.

“Promise.”

Matthew flipped his DSi open, making its iconic chime be heard throughout the Ponyville section of the park. After they had eaten, he and his dad found a quiet spot in the park with a few benches under the shade. It felt good to be in a place without the constant noise of girls screaming and cheering burning his ears every minute. At least he was free to enjoy his escape from this pony-filled nightmare: Pokemon. Ponies were nothing compared to that amazing gaming franchise.

As he continued his virtual journey, heading into Snowpoint City, he wondered more about that blue and rainbow colored pony that many kids at school, especially boys, would take a liking to. She was apparently very fast, which reminded him a bit of another gaming icon he adored, Sonic the Hedgehog. Maybe that’s why the boys at school liked her? Because of Sonic? He thought that was a pretty lame excuse, to compare such a brilliant character with a stupid pony.

So what if she was competitive and boyish? That didn’t change the fact that she was nothing but a pony. And Matthew had decided long ago that his hatred for ponies would grow by the day.

“Hey, Matthew, that roller coaster over there looks fun,” His dad suddenly pointed over to where the roller coaster Matthew had previously seen earlier that day. He could now see clearly a sign of the ride’s title: Sonic Rainboom. Again being reminded of the comparison to Sonic, he rolled his eyes—then taking a look at how massive the ride itself was. What stood out most, of course, was the horrifying yet awesome scene of riders screaming as they plummeted down a 65 foot drop near the end of the coaster.

It did look a little fun...

Matthew smiled, and looked back at his father, tucking his DSi back into his pocket. “Sure. Let’s hurry and get in line before it gets too long.”

“That was amazing!“ Matthew had never had an experience by the likes of what just happened, as his excitement tripled just by thinking about the coaster. Sure, it had looked scary at first, but it had turned out to be very exhilarating. He could tell his dad liked it, too, which made him even more glad.

“I think I see the girls over there,” his father said, as Matthew could see Aliza and his mom walking towards them, each with an ice cream cone in hand. Both of them had wide smiles plastered on their faces, along with a few blobs of ice cream.

“Look who was brave enough to ride that big roller coaster!” His mother gave him a hug, and Matthew returned the gesture, as his ego grew at the comment. “Aliza and I could never go on a big ride like that. Right, Aliza?” His sister had not replied verbally, only nodding, as she was too busy finishing off her ice cream to properly answer.

“Aliza met all six ponies after we told the employees it was her birthday. She even got to take a picture with all six at once!” Matthew’s mother recalled their earlier experiences. “She and I had a lot of fun. I can see you have, too!”

“Well, we should be wrapping up soon,” his father lay a hand over his eyes, shielding the bright sun from his vision. “It’s an hour and a half long drive home, and I want to get there at least before dark.”

“Why don’t you and Aliza socialize for a bit while your father and I plan out when to leave?” His mom signaled for Aliza to head next to Matthew, to the boy’s dismay. He would rather be alone, or at least with his dad, rather than being forced along by his sister to talk about prissy ponies with other girls her age. Inevitably, however, he had followed his sister not too far from his parents to where a group of kids were talking. Each of them sat on faux tree stumps, and in the center sat a brunette man in the employee’s uniform. Seeing so much pink on a male made Matthew groan internally.

There were two spots left open, luckily, and he and Aliza sat down, getting the other kids’ and the employee’s attention. The worker turned to them, flashing a name tag that read “Micheal”. He gave the two siblings a smile, as he said, “Hello there, you two! How are you enjoying your day in PonyPark?”

“It’s amazing!” Before Matthew could even think of a reply, Aliza yelled her answer in a shrill voice. “I’m having the best sixth birthday ever! I got to meet all the ponies, had ice cream, and go on cool rides!” Micheal nodded, and turned his attention to Matthew, and asked him, “And you? What have you done today?”

Matthew tried to be as casual as he could, but he couldn’t seem to put on a convincing act. Might as well tell him the truth...”Well...I’m not really into ponies. I liked the rainbow roller coaster, though. It was...um, pretty cool, I guess.”

Thankfully, Micheal’s smile didn’t go away after hearing the boy’s story. “Well, as long as you’re having fun, that’s all that matters! I really think you’d like Rainbow Dash, though.”

“Yeah!” Another boy sitting across from him, looking about his age, piped up. “She’s fast, sporty, and so awesome! She’s not like the other girly ponies.”

“Applejack isn’t girly!” Again, a boy around the circle protested.

“What’s wrong with being girly?” A girl beside him argued.

All of this took him back to memories from school; being just about the only one who wasn’t interested in the show or its characters had caused him to become a bit of an outcast. He wanted nothing to do with them. Ponies ruined everything. They ruined old interests, ruined school, took his friends...

...he remembered a previously pushed back memory as it flared alive in his mind’s eye. His old friends breaking off from him after he declared his personal vendetta against those talking ponies. Since their interests were so different, pretty much pure opposites, they were no longer compatible, at least in his friends’ eyes.

Panic suddenly overwhelmed his mind, and burning hatred sizzled deep within him. Breaking off from his sister and the other kids, he ran off in a mad dash. He was going to find a place where no person—or no ponies—could find him.

The sun had almost set by the time Matthew had found a place secluded enough where he could be alone. Thankfully, along the outskirts of PonyPark lay many large bushes, most likely to act as a border for it. He didn’t want to see anyone right now, he wanted to enjoy the quiet. No more ponies. Stupid park, stupid ponies, stupid Rainbow Dash...even her name sounded ridiculous.

Sighing as he leaned against the shrubbery, he opened Pokémon Platinum once again to continue from where he left off. Ponies didn’t matter when you had Pokémon companions. Lucario, Gallade and Empoleon were superior to any candy colored horse.

A bush a few feet away rustled for a moment, causing Matthew to instantly shut his DSi, in case someone had found him. It couldn’t have been that easy to find him, right? He was sure he had run for miles. Whatever the case was, he tried to stay as silent as possible, praying nobody had seen or heard him. He knew having the sound of his video game on was a bad idea.

Something rainbow colored caught his eye, as the rustling grew a bit more loud. Suddenly, a cyan-colored pony with a multicolored mane emerged from the bush, who was none other than Rainbow Dash herself. Matthew pinched himself many times, but each attempt to wake himself from whatever horrible nightmare he got himself into was a failure. He tried to back away as the innocent looking pegasus inched closer to him. Strangely enough, however, as he looked closer at her, she did not look like a costume at all—rather, it was as if she had stepped out of a television screen and into his world. The resemblance was uncanny.

And then, the pony began to speak.

“Whatcha doin all the way out here, kid?” Her voice had a raspy tone to it, making her sound tomboyish. Seems like everyone at school wasn’t lying about that. Matthew just stood there, unblinking, mouth agape as he tried to process the scene going on in front of him. He had to be dreaming.

Rainbow Dash laughed at his lack of reaction. “Yeah, you’re looking at the one and only Rainbow Dash! Applause, please.” She waited for the boy to clap, but got no response. “Tough crowd.”

She neared him, but Matthew only took a step back each time she took a step forward. “Easy, kid, I ain’t here to hurt ya. I’m actually here to help you, DUH!”

“...help me?” Matthew stopped in his tracks as he questioned what the pony had said to him.

“Listen, kid, I’ve been noticing your hatred for ponies. Look, I get it, of course ponies seem girly. I mean, just look at my friend Rarity,” she scoffed in the middle of her sentence, as Matthew wondered who Rarity even was. “Anyway, since I’m obviously the best one out of all my friends, don’t mean to brag—I’ve gotta be the one to show you how ponies aren’t that bad.”

Matthew grew angry at her argument. “No way! Ponies ruined everything in my life! It even took my friends away from me!”

Rainbow looked surprised, pausing for a few moments before going back to that same cocky smile she always flashed. “Kid, like I said, ponies aren’t so bad. Ponies help friends. And I want to help you. Kapiche?”

“...” The boy, again, said nothing.

“You’re...supposed to say it back.”

“Uhm...kapiche.” Matthew smiled nervously.

“Good try. Now,” Rainbow Dash begun to circle around him, looking behind herself a few times for a reason Matthew did not know of. “I understand you kinda prefer to be alone. Well, have I got a bargain you can’t refuse! A totally awesome, one night only private stay in the park!”

“What do you mean?” Matthew asked the pony.

“Just you and me, kiddo, for one full night. No lines for any rides, peace and quiet, and I bet we could even find some free food!”

Matthew pondered over her offer for a moment. The promises did sound enticing...but then came the thought of his family. “But, what about my family? They’ll wonder where I am and they’ll eventually find me.”

Rainbow Dash never lost her smile. In fact, it grew a bit wider. “Don’t worry about that. We ponies have a...special kind of magic we can do in Equestria. Twilight always told me, blah blah blah, it’s magic, don’t question it! What an egghead.”

Matthew laughed at the word “egghead”, getting a laugh out of Rainbow Dash as well.

“So, you in?” Asked the colorful pony.

“It’s a deal.” Matthew held out his hand to shake it with the pony’s hoof. “But are you sure nobody will find out?”

“Don’t worry, kiddo, I’ve got you covered.” Dash smiled at him. “By the way, I never asked for your name. Wanna tell me what it is?”

For the first time in his life, the boy felt happy to be around a pony. “Matthew.”

“Stay here, Matthew,” Rainbow Dash instructed. “I’ll take care of everything, and I’ll tell you when the coast is clear.”

“But, my parents—“

“I’ll take care of it, kid, stop worrying!” And with that, the pegasus was gone, flying upwards and suddenly disappearing out of thin air. Matthew brushed it off, going back to his game, until Rainbow Dash needed him again.

The clock on his DSi had read 6:20 when Matthew was still hiding in the bush. If he remembered correctly, the park would always close at six, according to the commercials. Rainbow Dash still hadn’t come back for him, and it had been a little over an hour. His game kept him occupied, but the console was almost dead by now. Where was the pegasus? Had it all been just some strange hallucination that his mind used to play a trick on him? Had he passed out and dreamt the entire ordeal?

Matthew had assumed that everyone had gone by now, and mustered up the courage to venture out of the bush and back from where he came. He could see the Ponyville part of the park from a distance, but no people. Swiftly, he ran from the park’s border and back into the park grounds, his surroundings being replaced with ponies everywhere he looked. It took him a while, but he had finally managed to reach the center of Ponyville. No people were in sight, as Rainbow had promised, but then he saw something odd in his peripheral vision.

He turned, seeing silhouettes of a few people at the entrance of the park. He hid behind a statue of a pony he did not recognize as he peered at the few people left in the park. Didn’t the place close twenty minutes ago? Looking closer, he could make out his family, a few cops and...himself?

Matthew rubbed his eyes, making sure he wasn’t hallucinating, but the sight still remained. He watched and saw himself walking away from the park with his family, two police officers following them from behind. Nobody looked upset—in fact, they looked relieved. But that wasn’t him. It looked like him, but it wasn’t.

After a few minutes, he waited until he was positive no person was left in the park but him. In a slightly panicked voice, he called to his new pony friend. “Rainbow Dash!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, and from behind him he heard a familiar voice.

“Kid! I told you not to move from your spot!” She scolded him, making him a bit scared. The pegasus sighed, but then put on her famous cocky smile. “That’s fine. I knew you were excited.”

“How did you...I mean,” Matthew stuttered. “I was...there, with my parents!”

“Special Equestrian magic,” his companion winked. Matthew decided not to question things anymore, now that an actual cartoon character had made her way to him.

“So, what do we do now?” asked the boy, curious as to what his friend had in store for him.

“Well,” Rainbow Dash explained, holding out a wing to him. “We have fun, duh! No adults around to tell you what to do to ruin any fun!”

He never thought a rainbow-clad pony of all things would say that, but it was amazing to hear it come from her mouth. “You know, maybe I was wrong about ponies. You’re really cool, Rainbow Dash!”

“Thanks, I get that a lot,” the pony replied. Suddenly, however, her eyes flashed for a moment, and Matthew looked at her in confusion. Rainbow Dash could sense this, and asked him, “What’s up, kid? Something wrong?”

“I swear I saw your eyes sort of...flash,” replied Matthew.

Rainbow Dash just laughed. “Kid, you worry way too much that your brain plays tricks on you. Now, come on, are we gonna have fun, or what?” She spread her wings out, as if offering him a horseback ride. It didn’t seem quite appealing to him.

“A horseback ride? Really?”

“You’ll see. Hop on!” Not wanting to argue with her, Matthew took up the offer, positioning himself on the back of the pony. Surprisingly, she had been about a little bigger than he had bin, something he wouldn’t expect from a real-life cartoon pony.

“So, what is this?” he asked, a slight fear rising in him.

Without warning, the pegasus took off in the air, her wings stretching backwards as she glided around the air with the boy on her back. Matthew screamed in panic, but then began to realize that he was flying/ Not on his own, of course, but the sensation was still amazing.

“You’re...we’re...flying!” Matthew cried in excitement. “This is awesome!”

Rainbow Dash laughed at the compliment, but then started turning towards the park entrance. Matthew could see a fence around the park that had not been there when he and his family arrived. He asked his pegasus companion, “What’s that big fence?”

“Oh, it’s a really big secret,” said Rainbow Dash. “It’s best I rather not tell you, secret Equestrian magic and all—“

“Secret?” Matthew giggled. “Tell me!”

“Okay, okay,” Rainbow chuckled, as she flew back down to the ground with Matthew still on her back. “See that tall fence? That’s how I came here. If you jump it, you get instantly transported to Equestria.”

Now that sounded like she was lying. “What? No way, that’s not possible.” Argued the boy in protest.

“Then how can you explain me coming all the way here to give you the best night ever?” Rainbow Dash was still smiling as Matthew pondered the question. The boy smiled, deciding to believe the pegasus’s story. “Okay. How do I get to Equestria?”

The pony spread her wings out again, and Matthew thought he could see her eyes glowing in the dark. He climbed back onto her back, and she glided into the air once again. Within a few minutes, the two of them had been about a half mile from the fence.

“If I go fast enough, we’ll make it,” she told him. “Are you ready to go to Equestria, kiddo?”

“I am!” Matthew couldn’t believe he was this excited about ponies.

“Hang tight.”

At breakneck speed, the blue pony was racing towards the fence, as Matthew could see it nearing the two, the pointed edges at the top looking a bit intimidating. Looking a bit higher as it got closer, he could see a few strings on the top of it. But he shook the anxious thoughts off, he thought of what he could experience in Equestria, with so many friends, hanging out with Rainbow Dash, and—

The pony suddenly threw him off of her back as he was thrown in the air, now heading towards the top of the fence. Just a few seconds and he would be on his was to Eq—

ZAP!

Volts raged through the young boy’s body as it scorched his skin. Horrible burning flared on every inch of his body. He finally realized what he had jumped—an electric fence. Maybe...maybe the only way to Equestria was death...? His friend wouldn’t lie to him...

In moments, the boy collapsed onto hard concrete, with no one around to hear his lifeless body plummet and his final screams echo in the air.

Jasmine

Jasmine was never an outgoing girl. In fact, she had been quite reserved. It wasn’t like she disliked people, she just preferred to spend most of her time alone. When other children of her neighborhood played outside or when recess was going on, she kept to herself, usually either staying inside playing with her dolls or admiring nature. Thankfully, though, she was still a sweet and polite girl, and had no trouble with schooling

Her parents had great trouble when they tried to get her to socialize, as she was an only child and needed company. It took a while to figure out the reason for her shyness, but after many years of wondering, the culprit had been identified.

Not many children had shared Jasmine’s interests. She didn’t seem interested in anything at all, really, aside from nature or cats. She loved any and all felines of any shapes and sizes, and even had a gorgeous marine coon named Angel. The white cat would keep her company over the years when she had no interest in people.

However—Fall 2010 had rolled around, just a month after Jasmine’s seventh birthday. The blonde had taken a sudden interest in a television show that was gaining traction very fast: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Kids around her school and many other neighborhoods had grew to love that show, and even adults were tuning in every Saturday morning for a new episode. The adventures of Twilight Sparkle and her friends captured the hearts of many around the globe.

It was inevitable that even Jasmine would become attracted to those cute and cuddly ponies, soon starting a collection of pony dolls that were decorated around her bedroom. However, there was a certain pony that she had collected the most, and that pony was the yellow pegasus named Fluttershy. She was quiet just like the human girl was, and was attached to animals as well. She even had a bunny named Angel, like her cat!

Of course, this led to her starting to socialize a bit more, most likely from watching Fluttershy gradually come out of her shell as the television show progressed. She started to make friends at school who would talk about the ponies at every chance they could. The teachers even allowed the children to bring their pony dolls with them for recess, and there were even times when kids would gift the staff any kind of pony merchandise.

Brightheart Elementary had just finished their lunch period, and as usual, nearly every child would group with their friends to converse about or play with the ponies. Jasmine held her Fluttershy doll in hand as she closed her lunchbox, and approached her friends, Katelyn and Elizabeth, who each held their own pony dolls in hand, specifically Twilight Sparkle and Ratity.

“Hello, darling!” said Elizabeth, mimicking Rarity’s voice as she held the unicorn doll to the Fluttershy one.

“Hi, guys!” she greeted the two. “I can’t believe it’s already Friday. There’s a new My Little Pony episode tomorrow, too!”

“I know!” exclaimed Katelyn. “Oh, I also wanted to tell you guys something super exciting.”

The two other girls looked at the red-haired, while Jasmine asked, “What is it?”

“My dad got a really big raise,” Elizabeth started, a smile widening onto her face. “So our family got lots of money. And we were able to afford...five tickets to PonyPark!”

The other girls screamed in excitement, but then Jasmine stared at Katelyn in confusion. “I thought you didn’t have any brothers or sisters?”

Katelyn nodded, and her eyes shined with excitement. “I know. You two are going with me in two weeks from tomorrow!”

All three of them screamed with joy again, at the mere thought of even going to PonyPark was enough to give them bursts of happiness. If the commercials on TV were anything to go by, it had looked like a place even more fun than Disney World. Rides, good food, an arcade, all with a signature pony flair.

“But what about paying for the flights and hotels?” asked Jasmine.

“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Katelyn didn’t lose her smile. “Since it’s got so much money from all the visitors, they decided to build a hotel near the park grounds. It’s a special My Little Pony hotel! The tickets pay for the hotel and the park visit. My parents covered the flights, too.” Her news anticipated the others even more.

“That’s amazing! Thank you so much, Katelyn!” Jasmine embraced her friend in a hug as she jumped up and down excitedly. She couldn’t believe it—she was actually going to the real PonyPark!

Another Saturday meant another new episode of ponies. That alone was enough to have Jasmine excited. But the fact that right after it premiered, Katelyn would be driving her to the airport to visit PonyPark? It was practically the best day of her life. She was surprised her parents allowed her to go, with the promise of Katelyn’s parents watching over her and her friends.

She smiled, as the new episode was just about to finish. With luggage in hand she watched the television, technicolor ponies feeding her imagination with having the time of her life in PonyPark. Especially meeting Fluttershy, which was what one of the commercials highlighted.

The credits rolled, and, as if on cue, the doorbell rang. Jasmine rushed to the door, and opened it before her mother could reach her. Katelyn was waiting outside, a wide smile plastered onto her face. “Good morning! Are you ready to go?”

“I’m more than ready!” Jasmine exclaimed, heading towards her friend’s car in a rush. However, before she could reach it, her mother gripped her wrist.

“You weren’t gonna leave without saying goodbye, were you?” teased her mother, with her father approaching her as well. Jasmine gave them both a hug and a kiss, before boding them goodbye before rushing over to Katelyn’s car, where both Katelyn’s parents and Elizabeth were waiting.

“You promised you’d tell us about the new episode, Jasmine,” said Elizabeth as the three girls settled into the back seats of the car. “What happened?”

“Oh, Pinkie Pie was being her usual self,” the blonde explained. “She had this thing called...Pinkie sense, I think? It made Twilight really mad, it was funny.”

The three girls continued to speak of the colorful world of Equestria until they had finally made it to the airport. It wouldn’t be long now before they would arrive to their pony-themed hotel room.

The flight from Ohio to Florida was long, and very boring, but it was worth it. Since the group left just after eleven in the morning, they had made it to the park at around three in the afternoon. The following Monday was a teacher workday, giving them the rest of the day and Sunday to explore the wonders of PonyPark.

The three girls were led by Katelyn’s parents through the hotel lobby, which displayed many ponies in the huge room. On the ceiling was a beautiful realistic painting of Princess Celestia herself, sitting on a batch of clouds with the sun shining behind her. It was absolutely stunning.

The three girls clutched onto their brushable pony dolls, following Katelyn’s parents and stepping up the stairs that resembled Canterlot Castle’s. Said stairs led to an elevator, which took them up to the third floor of the hotel. Each door to every hotel room bared images of several ponies, even ones other than just the six main characters. The room that belonged to the five had a light yellow pony with a red mane and a rose cutie mark on it.

The room itself hosted two bedrooms, one with a queen-sized bed and another with two bunk beds. The room with the queen bed was normal, with plain white sheets, while the room with the bunk beds was decorated with images of Fluttershy and Applejack on the wall, and bedsheets that displayed Twilight Sparkle on each of the beds. There was even a small television in each bedroom for entertainment.

Jasmine lay on the purple couch in the main room next to pillows of Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie after dropping her luggage. The other girls looked outside the hotel window, admiring the view of PonyPark from a far distance. The only thing they could see from so far away was a tall rollercoaster and a large ferris wheel. Just looking at the park gave them enough motivation to immediately beg Katelyn’s parents to let them venture out into the park as soon as possible. It wasn’t long before they gave in, and they were out of the room just as soon as they had arrived.

Jasmine and her friends had changed into shirts of their favorite ponies, being Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight. They each smiled just as they entered the park, happiness fueled by the sight of lovely ponies and the sounds of excitement from all the other children around them.

“May I use the bathroom real quick?” Jasmine politely asked Katelyn’s mother, before the adult nodded to her, but told her to be fast. Jasmine dashed to the nearest female restroom which was in a small building made to look like one of the Ponyville houses from the show. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she thought she saw a flash of yellow. Shaking her head, she brushed it off before entering the bathroom.

When she returned, the other four were still waiting for her. Katelyn exclaimed, “Come on! I want to go on the Equestria Adventure ride!” She pointed to a structure that resembled the Golden Oak Library, which had a decently long line standing in front of it. Not wanting to waste time, her parents nodded, and led the children to the dark ride.

Inside the treehouse structure were flickering lights to represent candles around faux bookshelves painted on the walls, with TV screens flashing a pre-show to the long line of guests. Jasmine couldn’t hear what was being said on the screen very clearly, she focused her attention when Fluttershy had appeared. Any time the yellow pony had caught her eye, she couldn’t help but smile, thinking of how much she was like her favorite pony.

The group had finally gotten onto the ride after a few short minutes of waiting in line. The storyline was nothing special, only about Nightmare Moon’s return and the Mane Six using the Elements to defeat her. It was a little fast, sort of like an indoor roller coaster, but nothing too thrilling. The girls, along with the parents, had a fun experience.

The cloudless sky made way for many birds to take flight, as Jasmine admired the small family of robins gliding in the azure sky, just as Fluttershy would have on any day in Ponyville. Their next stop was the Sonic Rainboom coaster, which she was a little nervous about, but anything with Rainbow Dash had to be cool. Any pony fan would know that.

She snapped out of her thoughts when a brunette-haired boy bumped into her shoulder, as he seemed like he was running away from something. He fell, thankfully not injuring himself too much, but Jasmine was still concerned. She offered a hand while she noticed he had a blue DSi tucked into his pocket. She was going to ask if he was all right, but didn’t get the chance to when he simply ran off without saying anything. She hoped he’d be okay, by any means.

“How kind of you!” Katelyn’s mother looked back to her after witnessing the short-lived event. “Offering help to that boy was sweet. Reminds me of another pony who’s kind.” She threw a wink at her, and Jasmine smiled. Was she really that much like Fluttershy?

The five had gotten a bite to eat before heading to the coaster, but not before Jasmine once again headed to the bathroom. It wasn’t her fault the soda here was that good. Again locating the nearest bathroom, she stepped into a room with three teal-colored stalls.

This time, she was alone. The restroom was clean, thanks to rare use—but the mere feeling of being by herself was enough to get a whimper out of her. She stood still, suddenly afraid to do much of anything as the feeling of being watched creeped up on her.

Out of nowhere, she heard an all too familiar voice.

“You know, when I get scared, I think of my friends wanting me to be brave,” whispered a soft voice. Jasmine looked behind her, and saw that a yellow pegasus with a pink mane had miraculously appeared out of thin air. For a moment, she thought she was in a dream, as there was no way that a cartoon character could be real. Maybe it was just a very realistic costume?

Her mind raced in both excitement and confusion as she stared at her favorite pony smiling above her. The winged mare was surprisingly a bit bigger than she was. “You...you’re Fluttershy!” The pony nodded at her reply.

“Hello, there,” Fluttershy gave the girl a soft smile. “Would you like to be friends? I saw how you acted to that boy outside, and thought that I just had to meet you after that display of kindness.”

“Really?!” Jasmine had to cover her mouth after shouting that word, she had never even heard herself talk that loudly before. Fluttershy softly giggled, and held out a hoof. Jasmine accepted it, and took in just how real her fur felt. “You really are real...how did you even get here?”

“Equestrian magic,” Fluttershy said, putting her foreleg back onto the ground. “It gives me access to this park, and I can travel here from Equestria, just to meet sweet little girls and boys like you. I can even take you to Equestria so you can meet all of my little animal friends.”

Now that was a tantalizing offer. She loved animals, especially cats, as well as nature, all things that resides in Fluttershy’s cottage. “I...I love animals! I have a pet cat, named Angel, like your bunny!”

“Oh, my, how lovely!” Fluttershy’s smile grew as she listened to the girl. “I’m sure you and I will have a wonderful time if you decide to come with me to Equestria.”

“But how?” The girl’s curiosity was peaked.

“Meet me around here later,” Fluttershy looked the girl straight in the eyes, as Jasmine wondered if she would be able to fly with Fluttershy once she got to Equestria. “I’ll show you exactly how special Equestrian magic can be.”

Jasmine heard her name being called from outside, and turned to face the bathroom door. Katelyn burst through the door suddenly, and had a slightly worried look on her face. “Are you okay? What’s taking so long? The line to Sonic Rainboom is getting long!”

Jasmine smiled nervously. “Sorry, I was just talking to Fluttershy.”

“What?”

“She’s right—“ Jasmine turned to where Fluttershy was, but saw nothing but the wall of the restroom. “...uh, sorry. Sometimes my imagination gets wild.”

“That’s okay. It happens to me, too,” Katelyn grabbed Jasmine’s hand and dragged her out of the restroom. “Now come on! Let’s ride that coaster!”

Unfortunately for Jasmine and her friends, riding the Sonic Rainboom wasn’t such a good idea directly after eating so much. As a result of this, the three of them had gotten nauseous, and had to be taken to the First Aid building near the southeast section of Ponyville. After resting their legs for a bit, both the adults and the children were ready to get back into the park, as Katelyn had requested they travel to Canterlot.

The mere sight of the replica city was jaw dropping. It was if the show had come to life, as Canterlot looked exactly like it had been in the cartoon, except more realistic and bigger. The Canterlot section of the park housed the carousel, the ferris wheel, a Princess Celestia meet and greet, and a walkthrough attraction of Canterlot Castle. It didn’t have as many attractions as Ponyville, but it was worth it due to the beautiful look of the area itself.

Meeting with Princess Celestia had been a bit...weird, at least to Jasmine. The costume was well-made, but it felt almost as real as Fluttershy did when she had encountered the other pony earlier. The way the costume stared at her was unnaturally odd, too. The magenta eyes seemed to stare at her so intently, barley paying attention to the other two girls until she was asked to pose for a picture.

Later on, the girls had gotten onto the ferris wheel and conversed as the seats went around in a large circle. She tried telling her friends that Celestia was real, and that Fluttershy was too, but of course, they didn’t believe a word she said. That was a shame, as she wanted to bring her friends to Equestria with her.

“Equestria isn’t real,” scoffed Elizabeth. “I wish it was, though!”

“But she was right there!” Jasmine huffed in protest. “Fluttershy talked to me! She said that I was really kind earlier. She even said she would take me to Equestria. Don’t you guys want to go to Equestria?”

“I wish,” Katelyn laughed, as if she thought Jasmine was pulling a prank on her and Elizabeth. “Oh, Jasmine, you and your wild imagination. I wish I could imagine Twilight talking to me that easily!”

“But...” Jasmine sighed, and gave up the fight. It didn’t matter that much, anyway; she would prove to Elizabeth and Katelyn that Equestria was real after she came back. Maybe she could even show her entire school the way to Equestria, if Fluttershy taught her! Everyone deserved to be in Equestria, after all. It sounded like paradise to her, and certainly to any other child, teen, or adult.

The sun was beginning to head down the horizon, and excitement filled Jasmine as butterflies in her belly fluttered about. It was almost closing time, exactly thirty minutes away until six. The group was waiting for the nightly closing show to start, where some employees, the Mane Six and Princess Celestia would celebrate the world of Equestria and thank the guests for coming to PonyPark, complete with a fireworks show, on a stage set in Canterlot.

Jasmine, however, was more excited about something else, which was meeting up with her pony friend again. She rushed to the same bathroom that she had been in hours ago, branching off a bit from the others, but not too far. She closed the door behind her as she entered the restroom, which was empty once again.

“Fluttershy?” The seven year old called out. “I’m here!”

“Hello, Jasmine,” like she had before, Fluttershy suddenly appeared behind her from out of nowhere. Jasmine jumped a little in surprise, but was relieved to be reunited with her favorite pony. “I’m glad you came to see me. I quite like talking to you, little one.”

“I like you, too, Fluttershy,” Jasmine stroked the pony’s mane fur, appreciating of how pretty it was. Fluttershy hummed at the gesture, a slight smile never leaving her face. “So, are we going to go to Equestria now?”

“In due time,” Fluttershy giggled before pacing towards the door. “I’m going to be just on the other side of this door, okay? I need you to follow me.”

“Why can’t you open the door?” asked Jasmine in confusion and curiosity.”

“Since I come all the way from Equestria, I’m not able to be completely physical,” explained the pegasus, in a soothing, honeyed voice. “So I can’t do certain things that you can do.”

The child, believing this fully, simply nodded and opened the door once Fluttershy had disappeared. Looking to the crowd not too far away from the restroom, she carefully made sure she was not seen while following Fluttershy. She wondered why they had to be so conspicuous; shouldn’t everybody deserve to go to Equestria? Then again, it was a pretty good feeling to be picked by Fluttershy herself specially to be able to visit Equestria.

“Fluttershy?” Jasmine whispered, as the sounds of the crowd gradually faded away.

“Yes, Jasmine?”

“When I come back from Equestria, can you show my friends the way to it, too?” After that question, the pegasus had stopped momentarily in her tracks, but then began walking again, saying nothing. This made Jasmine a bit worried, but reassured enough to still want to continue to follow the pony.

“Fluttershy?” Again Jasmine called her name, but still got no response. Maybe Fluttershy was just too focused on finding the secret portal to Equestria or something? She didn’t want to bother her new pony friend.

“Will I come back? I’ll see my friends again, right?”

No reply again. Silence reigned for several minutes after.

“Jasmine,” Fluttershy said, as she finally stopped walking away from where the two were previously. “I brought you here because I found a poor little kitten that was injured in the bushes. I need you to help heal it.”

Jasmine could hear soft meows coming from nearby bushes, but then questioned as to why Fluttershy didn’t help it in the first place. “But why didn’t you help it?”

“This is a test of kindness,” Fluttershy’s voice suddenly was in a much lower tone. “Prove to me how badly you want to go to Equestria, Jasmine.”

Jasmine looked at the pony’s blank stare for a moment, before heading into the bushes, expecting to see an injured kitten, as promised. However, she had not seen anything, as the meows of the cat had been replaced with eerie silence. “Fluttershy, I don’t see it,” she said, but Fluttershy gave no reply.

“Fluttershy, please,” she came out from the bush to see that the pony was no longer there. “Please don’t leave me alone.” She stepped back in fear, looking around for the yellow pegasus, when she suddenly had felt a burning pain in her leg. She looked down as she fell onto the hard concrete, and bite marks had been marked near her ankle.

She heard something scurry near her, and her eyes widened at what she saw: a light brown scorpion had made its way into the bush, and it had stung her. White-hot pain burned through her, as her body slowly took the poisonous sting. She tried to move, but found that she couldn’t, and her body began to spasm as her breathing became irregular and erratic.

“Flu-“ she tried to call out to her friend again, but could only cough up blood, her body burning even more as every second passed. Perhaps Fluttershy could heal her wounds, or even befriend the scorpion that had stung her? She didn’t get it, though, she had been kind. Fluttershy was kind, too, and the animals always treated her fairly. Was Jasmine not kind enough?

Maybe she failed the test. She may have disappointed Fluttershy.

The negative thoughts were just as painful as the poisonous venom that ran through her, and she wondered if she would see Equestria as her world faded to pitch black.

Robert

An eight year old boy with black hair and glasses awaited for his aunt and uncle to pick him up for school. The sun was barley up when Robert was ready for school, as the drive from his home was quite a long one. And yet, he still ended up being late.

Robert lay on the couch, after saying goodbye to his parents before they left for work. Since they had to work so early, they had to depend on his aunt and uncle to pick him up. He stared at the TV as the clock turned seven; his favorite show was coming on at this time, and he would watch the cartoon each morning before school.

It used to be odd for a boy to like My Little Pony of all things, but not anymore. Since the show ever aired, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic had Robert and his friends hooked. Most of the boys in his class had their favorite ponies be picked as either Rainbow Dash or Applejack, as the other four ponies were too “girly”. Especially Rarity, the pony the majority of the boys didn’t like so much. They clearly put the two tomboyish characters on a pedestal.

Whenever Robert would try to join into his friends’ conversations of the ponies, they’d usually let him join in, but not without a constant reminder of how “girly” he was. See, Robert wasn’t exactly “boyish”, both to his friends’ and his father’s standards. He didn’t like being called a girl, but still enjoyed wearing an occasional skirt or two, painting his nails, and playing the occasional tea party with the neighbor’s kids.

His father didn’t exactly condone that. Nightly dinners would be filled with talks of how his son should be more “like a man”, and let go of his girly behaviors. He told his son again and again that “real men” shouldn’t act like the way that he did. For years, this lowered Robert’s self esteem as time passed.

When a certain TV show came on the air, though, his self esteem had been restored almost immediately.

He liked all of the Mane Six ponies, they were all very charming. But one pony sticked out to him the most: the fashionista unicorn named Rarity. She was ladylike and argumentatively the most girly pony in the entire show apart from Princess Celestia herself. But, even so, she had strength and was not afraid to stand up to herself, even putting up a good fight against creatures that attacked Ponyville.

Every time Robert watched the show, he focused most of the attention on Rarity, if she appeared in an episode. The Element of Generosity was truly beautiful, like a princess. Robert wondered if someone like him would ever be a prince, if boys who acted feminine were even allowed to be princes. If he would, he would rule Canterlot alongside Rarity, with the mare as the princess in Equestria.

The doorbell snapped him out of his daydreams, signaling that his aunt and uncle had arrived. Robert grabbed his backpack and adjusted his glasses, and made his way to another day in third grade.

Lunchtime was always a relief for Pioneer Elementary, as it gave the schoolchildren a break from their classes. The one thing they talked about? My Little Pony, of course. The staff saw it coming, and some meetings were held on the sudden takeover of ponies everywhere, but it was eventually deemed harmless by all the teachers. After all, it was just ponies, and even some of the staff members themselves had gotten into the craze.

Robert, with lunchbox in hand, smiled as he approached his friends in the cafeteria. As expected, all of them had either a Rainbow Dash or Applejack doll in hand as they conversed over which athletic pony was superior. Robert hadn’t brought a toy until that day, as his parents could only afford so much or even pay attention to his interests as they focused on work and bills all the time. However, he had promised his group of friends he’d buy a Rainbow Dash or Applejack doll...but instead, he followed his heart and had gotten a Rarity doll that he cherished so much.

He grew nervous as he approached his friends, Jonathan, Blake, Max and Tyler, with Jonathan and Tyler holding Rainbow Dash dolls and the other two wielding Applejack dolls. As Robert sat down with them, all the attention shifted to the boy.

“Finally, you’re here!” Max gave him a playful shove. “We finally get to see the tie breaker.”

“You bought Rainbow Dash, right?” Jonathan asked him, clearly expecting that he would get the answer he wanted.

“Nah, dude, he totally got Applejack,” Blake scoffed, and the two groups of pony lovers feuded over who was better just like they had many times before.

“Well, actually...” as Robert began, the four boys stopped fighting, and all eyes were on him once again, awaiting for him to reveal which pony he got. The suspension finally subsided when he pulled out a white unicorn with a purple mane from his pocket. It was clear to the other four boys now: his choice was Rarity. “I...like Rarity. A lot.”

At first, his friends were silent. But then, as Robert had feared, they then began to laugh intensely. Blake noticed his nails, which was another fear of Robert’s; he had painted them the past weekend a lovely dark purple color, resembling the color of Rarity’s mane.

“Well, first of all,“ Jonathan could barely stop himself from laughing when he finally managed to speak. “You painted your nails? Dude, that’s, like, way low.” The other three boys snickered in agreement.

Robert felt anger well up inside him as the others criticized his appearance. “You guys watch ponies! We ALL watch ponies! If we do that, then it shouldn’t it be so far-fetched for me to paint my nails, right?”

“We only watch it for the cool ponies,” explained Max. “Which are Applejack and Rainbow Dash ONLY. Any other pony is simply not good enough. Especially Rarity, and we all know only girls like Rarity.”

“Are you a girl, Robert?” Tyler teased, making the boy in glasses even more angry. “You like that stupid unicorn so much that it’s starting to get annoying. I bet you’re even in love with her!”

“Robert’s a girl! Robert’s a girl!” The four boys sung together, making Robert’s eyes fill with tears, as much as he tried to hide them.

“Look, he’s crying!” Jonathan could hardly breathe from laughter at that point. “Are you gonna cry like a girl now?”

Robert couldn’t take it anymore, and he took his Rarity doll and lunchbox, running away from the boys who he thought were his friends.

“How was school today, Robert?” Aunt Olivia asked the boy as he arrived in his relatives’ white SUV. Robert said nothing at first until his aunt had asked him again. “Robert? Is everything okay?”

“M-my friends made fun of me,” Robert stuttered, and he could feel himself wanting to cry again as the memories replayed in his mind. “T-they said I was a girl, a-and bullied me for...f-for liking Rarity.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Aunt Olivia gave her nephew a sad look as she was told what had happened that day. “I’m so, so sorry. Those boys are just too ill-mannered!”

“Well, I sure know something that’ll cheer our boy up,” Uncle Tom remarked, and Robert stopped sniffling as soon as he heard the comment.

Both his aunt and uncle smiled, as they both exclaimed in unison: “Guess who’s going to PonyPark?”

Robert stared blankly for a moment, processing the question, until he finally realized who they meant. “You got us tickets?”

“This Friday, we’ll drive you after school,” Uncle Tom smiled after hearing the boy’s excitement. “It’s not that long of a flight from Georgia, so we’ll get there before six. We even got us three a special hotel room! We’re staying Friday and Saturday.”

“But...how did you even afford this?”

“We’ve been planning this ever since you were interested in My Little Pony, and we managed to work for enough money to save up for tickets. It’s been painful seeing your parents work so much without paying attention to you, so we thought it would be wonderful if we did you something nice.”

Robert didn’t want to cry again, but he couldn’t help himself, this time out of pure joy. He said many thank yous on the way to the pair’s house, as he awaited to turn on another episode of My Little Pony once he arrived.

“Well?” Aunt Olivia took in the sight of the hotel room, leading her nephew to the children’s bedroom. The mere hotel room door had already fascinated him, as his favorite pony had been on it. Expectedly, he was even more excited when he saw on his bedsheets a beautiful picture of Rarity admiring a few gemstones. It was an amazing sight to see, but Robert didn’t want to dawdle for too long in the room, as it was already four in the afternoon, so they only had two hours to spare for that day. As fast as he could, he put on a Rarity shirt that he packed, and the three headed down to the park.

Aunt Olivia and Uncle Tom insisted that anything Robert wanted to do he could do, and of course, he immediately desired to see Canterlot. The commercials promised a near exact replica of the posh city, and they hadn’t been lying. The castle itself was stunning, and surprisingly large, nearly the same size as Magic Kingdom castle. No wonder this park was getting as many visitors as Disney was each day.

A few boys looked at him as he and his relatives walked into replica Canterlot Castle, as most of them were wearing Applejack or Rainbow Dash shirts. It was seldom heard of that a boy fan of My Little Pony would take such a liking to Rarity. He caught a few laughs, as expected, but paid them no mind.

As he walked through the massive castle, he eventually went through enough rooms and doors and eventually found the main attraction of the castle, the throne room, where Princess Celestia resided. Robert knew it was just a person in costume, but couldn’t ignore just how beautiful the princess was. Robert imagined himself sitting on the throne, with Rarity by his side. How beautiful she’s be and how they’d rule side by side as great friends.

After taking a picture with Princess Celestia, Robert asked his aunt and uncle if he could find a restroom in the castle. He wasn’t sure if there were any, but tried his best to hurry so little time was wasted. Many halls and doors were in the huge building, and he was surprised just how much room there was in here.

Robert was in such a rush trying to find the bathroom when he suddenly bumped into a group of kids. He fell to the ground, picking up his glasses after the scuffle only to see that they had shattered. Looking upwards, he recognized the four faces—to his surprise, the culprits were none other than Jonathan, Tyler, Max and Blake, his now ex-friends who had treated him so harshly four days prior.

“So, this is why you were so happy,” Jonathan sneered. “You got yourself a trip to PonyPark.”

“What are you doing here?” Robert tried the best he could to stand his ground, like Rarity would have.

“I won a giveaway, darling!“ Jonathan spoke the last word in a tone like Rarity’s in a mockingly manner. “Four sets of two tickets. We each came here with our moms.”

Robert couldn’t believe his ears. Of course they would come on the one day he arrived to the park, it’s as if they knew he was going all this time, and made a plan just to ruin us day. “Just...leave me alone.”

“What are you gonna do about it? Cry again, you little girl?” Max suddenly shoved Robert to a wall, and took his Rarity doll he ever so loved away from him. He gave the pony doll to Jonathan, and the tallest boy pulled out a pair of scissors, threatening to cut Rarity’s hair.

“Good thing I brought these, heh,” Jonathan sneered as he played with the pony’s hair before he was going to cut it. “Just in case some other boy was caught liking another pathetic girly pony.”

“Please! Please don’t ruin her!” Robert begged, but Max only shoved him back into the wall as the scissors were about to snip the purple mane of his prized doll. It was the only pony merchandise he had, and it was about to be ruined.

Suddenly, the four boys stared at nothing as Robert heard a noise come from the other side of the hallway, as the lights leading to hit had shut off on their old. Perhaps the light bulbs had burned out? But the park was pretty new...it had opened since September, and it was only February.

Robert snapped out of his thoughts when the four boys in front of him suddenly screamed in terror, dropping both the scissors and his Rarity doll. Thankfully, no hair had been chopped off, her full mane was still intact. Robert held the doll in his hands after retrieving it from the floor, and shook in place, fear and sadness suddenly overtaking him from the event. He hated being called a girl just because he acted feminine.

“I think that was absolutely marvelous,” an odd yet familiar voice spoke all of a sudden. Robert’s eyes widened in fear, thinking one of the boys had come back to torment him more—but then recognized the posh accent within moments. He looked down at his Rarity doll, thinking he had gone crazy. Was he knocked out and dreaming?

He suddenly felt a hoof on his shoulder. To the right of him, he saw a white unicorn a bit taller than he was. She smiled at him after he turned his gaze to the mare, who was all too recognizable to him.

“R-Rarity?” He could barely talk from the shock he was feeling.

The fashionista’s dark blue eyes stared down at the boy. “You showed those repulsive ruffians what for back there. I couldn’t have done it better myself!”

Robert said nothing, covering a hand to his mouth. He slowly processed what he saw as the pony blinked at him in confusion, but still smiled. She sat down so she could get to his height, and once again placed a hoof onto his shoulder.

“I see I have a fan,” she giggled, and she eyed Robert’s shirt. This made the boy laugh nervously, still a bit frightened. Rarity’s eyes drew near his nails, and immediately she was impressed. “Oh, my! Such a lovely color, it matches my mane!”

“Y-you’re not real...” Robert kept on nervously laughing, not believing what he saw.

“Of course I am, darling! I just don’t come out very often, is all. Arriving here all the way from Equestria isn’t an easy task, you know.”

“Equestria?” Robert questioned, as he thought Equestria was not a real place.

“It’s the place where I live, is it not? You of all people should know so, dear,” once again, she giggled. “I’ve never seen anyone so fond of me. I’m quite flattered, to tell the truth.”

“You...” Robert was still in a bit of shock, but had calmed down a little after a few minutes. “Can you...travel here from Equestria all the time? I’ve always wanted to, uhm...be with you, a-and...” he was too nervous to finish the sentence, and he trailed off. Rarity looked confused for a moment, but then levitated his glasses in the air using her magic. In moments, he saw a bright flash of blue in his vision, making him have to shield his eyes.

To his surprise, when he opened his eyes again, he found that his glasses had been placed back onto his eyes, and that they were now fixed. He gasped, and smiled at the white pony before him, embracing her into a hug. “Thank you so much!”

“It’s the least I can do, darling, for a new friend,” Rarity stood back up on all fours as she began to pace around the boy. “I saw how horrible those boys were to you. And I wanted to make a generous offer.”

“What kind of an offer?” After adjusting his glasses, Robert stared up at Rarity with curiously.

“Well,” Rarity started. “How would you like to join me in Equestria? You and I, in the city of Canterlot, ruling together.”

“I...wow,” it was as if Rarity had looked directly into his thoughts and saw his every desire. “That’s exactly what I want. It would be amazing, Rarity—“

“However,” the unicorn interrupted Robert before he could finish his sentence. “I need to see you be generous first. It can be towards anyone in the park, darling, but I just need to see an act of generosity before I can show you the way to Equestria.”

“Well...” Robert thought of how late it had gotten already, the castle tour had taken around fourty minutes. “I’ll be coming here tomorrow, too. How will I know you’ll be watching for me?”

“Others cannot see me,” Rarity’s smile grew. “But I can see them. I’ll be watching you all day tomorrow, darling. After I see you doing something generous, then return here. I’ll show you the way to Equestria, and all your troubles will be forgotten.”

“Rarity,” Robert held out a hand, as Rarity held out a hoof in return. He took it, shaking it slightly. “I’ll make you proud.”

The next day, Robert and his relatives had woken bright and early around seven thirty in the morning, just before the park had opened at eight. They were nearly the first ones to arrive at the park, aside from a few groups of people awaiting at the tall pointed fence. Soon enough, the fence was opened by an employee, and many people of all ages flooded the park, the sunny sky making way for a beautiful day in PonyPark.

Aunt Olivia, Uncle Tom and Robert had gotten a bite to eat near Sweet Apple Acres, a restaurant that was made to look like Applejack’s barn. After eating a few waffles with plenty of syrup, the three of them arrived to Nightmare Moon Mania, an indoor roller coaster slightly faster than Equestria Adventure, a ride which Robert had been begging to go on. It was a bit scary, but thrilling all at once.

Later on, after getting a picture with Rarity and playing a few arcade games after lunch, they arrived at the very popular attraction, Sonic Rainboom. The coaster was tall, with a terrifying 65 foot drop being the cause of many excited and scared screams. Robert thought he could handle it, and could tell the tale to his ex-friends of being brave enough to ride the coaster. Although he ended up riding, though, he unfortunately lost his lunch, making Uncle Tom and Aunt Olivia have to go to the First Aid building.

“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Aunt Olivia asked Robert in a sweet voice, as the boy tried to soothe his aching belly. He only gave a small smile and a nod in response, trying to focus on his breathing.

All of a sudden, the door to the room filled with bright blue chairs opened, and three girls with two adults had made their way into it. Robert stared at the girl in the middle—a blonde, wearing a bright yellow Fluttershy shirt, who looked about a year younger than he was. She looked quite sad, and was also trying to control her breathing. As the girl sat down next to him, he tried to spark up conversation.

“Um, hi,” he greeted warmly, and the girl looked a bit nervous, but still met his gaze. He smiled at her, adding, “My name’s Robert. What’s yours?”

“J-Jasmine,” the girl stuttered out, seeming a bit shy.

“How’d you end up in here?”

“Sonic Rainboom. The drop made me feel really sick.”

“Heh, same here,” Robert gave a small laugh, which made the younger girl smile. He then started to play with the hair of his Rarity doll, which had suddenly become what Jasmine focused on.

The smaller girl pointed to the doll, saying, “Is that Rarity?”

“It is,” Robert replied. “She’s my favorite pony.”

“I don’t have her yet,” Jasmine suddenly frowned. “Every toy store I go to in my town never has any dolls of her. I have every Mane Six pony but her.”

Robert thought for a moment, considering giving the girl his cherished pony toy—but then pushed the thought away. He loved his doll, and it had just been almost ruined by a group of horrible boys. Was he really considering giving away the only pony that he had?

Then he thought of what Rarity had said to him yesterday—he had to be generous.

He took a deep breath, before handing the unicorn to Jasmine. “Here,” he put on a smile. “You deserve to finish your collection.”

The girl’s face lit up immediately, as if her previous bad mood had completely disappeared. “Really? Oh my gosh, you’re the best! Thank you so much!”

Robert laughed, and seeing Jasmine’s happiness erased any feeling of guilt he had from giving away his doll. He hoped Rarity saw the gesture, and sat up from his seat, as his bellyache subsided. After saying goodbye to Jasmine and her friends, he knew exactly where he wanted to go next: Canterlot.

Careful not to alert anyone, Robert gave the excuse to his aunt and uncle that he once again had to “use the bathroom”. Unbeknownst to them, he was once again looking for his new friend Rarity. He recognized just where he was yesterday, the familiar dark hallway making him realize he was exactly where he should be.

“You came!” Rarity’s voice came from behind, surprising the boy. He whipped around and smiled, more than glad to see the fashionista again. “I saw what you did earlier, darling, and thought it was more than noble of you to do.”

“You did?” Robert blushed as Rarity gave him the compliment.

“Follow me,” her voice suddenly grew a bit quieter, but Robert paid no mind to it. He followed the unicorn as she led him down the dark hallway, and her blue eyes suddenly began shining in the dark. Her horn lit up so the two of them could see exactly where they were going.

The pony stopped when the both of them were met with a shining pair of golden double-doors. Robert was absolutely stunned at the beauty of it, and it seemed to sparkle even in the darkness of the hallway.

“Robert,” Rarity began, her voice echoing in the large hallway. “Behind this door is a lovely throne I have constructed just for you. If you sit on it long enough, you’ll be transported to Equestria.”

“Are you sure?” Robert was a bit apprehensive, as it couldn’t have been that simple. All he had to do was sit on a throne? “There’s nothing else for me to do?”

“Simply imagine us together,” Rarity’s voice grew a little darker as the unicorn went on. “Ruling together as the best of friends. As prince and princess. With the first new rule being...” She paused, and walked up to his ear, whispering into it with sweet promises.

“The downfall of all of your enemies. We shall make them our footstools.”

That alone was enough to make Robert nod, as images filled his head of the boys who had picked on him being defenseless as he sat on a golden throne, with Rarity at his side. It was absolutely what he wanted, and nothing else.

“Okay,” Robert grinned sinisterly, as he opened both doors, entering the room, and closing the large golden doors behind him. He expected Rarity to follow him, but he could see her no more. Perhaps she was in Equestria already, waiting for him?

He looked around the room, adjusted to the dark, yet saw or felt no throne of any kind. He tried find the doors he just closed, to tell Rarity that she may have led him to the wrong room, but found that they had mysteriously disappeared. His blood ran cold, and he felt something bump into his back.

Concrete wall.

The walls were closing in on him.

Robert was extremely claustrophobic, but he had never told anyone that, in fear of seeming weak. As the walls kept on getting closer to him, his breathing grew, and he found that breathing grew gradually difficult. He tried screaming as loud as he could, banging on the walls for help, only wanting to see his aunt and uncle again. He even wanted to see his mom and dad, to tell his father he was sorry for disappointing him, even after how they hardly gave him any attention.

Only a few minutes had passed before the room grew so small that almost all of his oxygen had ran out. His breathing slowed gradually, and Robert’s vision slowly became nothing but a small circle. Blackness swam around his eyesight, and he swore he could hear Rarity laughing manically before he drowned in the darkness that overtook him.

Oliver

In a local church near Richmond, Virginia, their weekly Sunday sermon was currently taking place on a cloudy overcast afternoon. Nine year old Oliver, sitting in between his six brothers and sisters, tried to focus as much as he could on the pastor, without failing asleep in the middle of a lecture about righteousness. His family was very conservative, and that meant they made weekly visits to church each Sunday.

He didn’t mind his faith—in fact, he was very serious about it. It was only the very boring sermons and family pressure that kept him on the edge of pushing it away all together at times. The room was instructed to turn their bibles to Mark 2:13-17, and everyone did as such. Oliver tried his best to hide an incoming yawn, wishing that the service was over already. He just wanted to go back home.

The pastor began to read the passages from the gospel, as Oliver followed along in his book.

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.

14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Eventually, the clock struck three on the cold January day, finally allowing Oliver and all of the other church-goers to return to their homes. At least that was over with.

Oliver put on his heavy green jacket to shield himself from the cold outside, shuffling out of his seat when his siblings to the left of him had moved, with the others to the right following him. Three brothers in front, three sisters behind.

His family was surely big, and he was convinced he had the most family members in his fourth grade class. There were his brothers: Sam, who was three, Kyle, who was five, and Jacob who was just two years older than him. Then came his sisters: Olivia, the smallest one in the family, being only one year old, thirteen year old Lexi, and finally, the oldest child, fifteen year old Bailey.

Then of course came the heads of the household—his mother, Samantha Oakley, and his father, James Oakley. They were strict, but Oliver had convinced himself it was for both their and family’s sake. Only the adults, Lexi, and Bailey were allowed to have technology, as they feared that any influence of it on the younger children would cause trouble. Even Lexi was carefully supervised when going on the computer, with Bailey being the only one having much freedom. But, like the parents of the huge family always told their children, it was for the best.

Oliver eventually followed the rest of his family outside, where his nerves were immediately struck with the freezing temperatures of winter. His fingers grew numb the longer he stayed outside, and he grew increasingly angry when he noticed that he and his siblings had stopped moving.

“What’s happening? Why aren’t we moving?” Oliver tapped Jacob on the shoulder, and the eleven year old brunette looked back at him with an annoyed glare.

“Beats me,” replied his older brother, and he just turned back to looking in front. Oliver sighed internally, as he should have known that Jacob was always quiet.

Oliver looked to the front of the single file line that the siblings had lined themselves up in, and peered at his mother speaking to who was presumably one of her friends. He walked up in front, which only rewarded him several gasps from his siblings, as they were often told never to interrupt their parents having conversations. He wouldn’t have done so if not for the fact that the temperate was thirty degrees outside.

“Mom,” he softly tapped his mother on the shoulder, but his father gave him a very stern glare, silently telling him to scurry back to his spot. But his mother noticed her child’s action, and surprisingly, she smiled at him. Oliver looked at whom she had been talking to, and saw that she also had a son that looked about the same age he was...he even looked familiar.

“Oliver, have you met Jeremiah?” She asked in a sweet voice. “He’s in your class.”

“Uh...” Oliver examined the other boy who stood behind the other woman. “No, I don’t think so.”

“I think it’s about time you come out of your shell,” she replied, gesturing for the boy named Jeremiah, who was also a blonde like Oliver was, to introduce himself. The young man looked a little nervous, but still spoke after a few moments.

“Hi...I’m Jeremiah,” he waved slightly at Oliver, and Oliver waved back with a smile. He then explained, “Mrs. Oakley told me that you could come over this weekend, if you wanted to—“

“Really?” Oliver interjected suddenly, and both his mom and dad struck two angry glances at him. He couldn’t help his excitement, though—this was the first time he’d been allowed to visit a friend’s house. By the time their kids had turned nine, that was when the parents would decide that they would finally be free to open up to the world just a bit more. He wouldn’t get much conversation at school, due to his parents not exactly having the best reputation with the other children’s families, but now, a brand new opportunity had finally opened up.

“S-sorry, sir, ma’am,” he quickly bowed his head apologetically. “But, um, I’d love to! Can I really, mom?”

“Sure,” his mother was back to having a smile on her face. “You’re growing older, Oliver. It’s about time we give you just a bit of freedom.”

The other siblings were growing impatient, and soon enough, the adults had taken the hint as both families bode goodbye and had headed to their cars, shoving off for home on the overcast, chilly Sunday.

When the following Saturday had rolled around, January 22nd to be exact, Oliver hadn’t been more excited in his life than he had been that week; he finally got the chance to have a sleepover of all things!

Jeremiah had been a very nice boy, and liked many things that Oliver did. Jeremiah’s family had even possessed a Wii of their own—something Oliver wished his family had. They played many rounds of Mario Kart for hours as the day went along, and Oliver was convinced that he had never been happier in his life. After their fifteenth round—they kept count—Jeremiah finally asked Oliver a question the boy feared would eventually come up.

“So, Oliver,” the other blonde asked. “Why doesn’t your family have a Wii? Or...let you do many things?”

“We’re conservative,” Oliver looked down at the floor, feeling a bit embarrassed for having to explain the reason to his new friend. “Our parents say that too much exposure to the modern world is really bad for us. So, we just try to live happy lives.” Their lives were far from happy, though. But Jeremiah didn’t need to know that.

“Well...” Jeremiah suddenly laughed nervously, making Oliver raise an eyebrow. “I think I may have something they’ll let your whole family watch! They may even like it.”

“Huh?” Oliver was doubtful at the proposition. Usually when it came to cartoons, his parents restricted the children’s viewings of TV to preschool channels until a child was around five, and most of the “screen time” they’d get from television would only be certain channels like Disney—even then there were only a few shows the family was allowed to watch on that channel alone. Oliver would always stare at the huge TV guide, a sea of channels just begging him to watch them, but he knew if he even tried to sneak one little peek at what was beyond his limits, he’d be toast.

“I know you don’t exactly talk to many people,” Jeremiah said jokingly, and Oliver sighed at this. The other boy’s expression quickly turned solemn. “Sorry...but, anyway, you haven’t heard of My Little Pony, have you?”

That was something that Oliver had never heard of before in his life. “No, I haven’t. Why?” It sounded a little silly...

“Oh, it’s what everyone’s been talking about in school,” Jeremiah went on. “It’s a show for little girls that came on around October, but it’s just as good as SpongeBob, I swear! My favorite pony’s Fluttershy. But there’s Applejack, oh, and, Rarity...Rainbow Dash, too, and—“

“Jeremiah!” Oliver yelled slightly, not wanting his friend to explain so fast. “Why don’t you, uh...show me this show? It does sound kinda...” he was going to use the word ‘stupid’, but years of his parents reminding him not to crushed the idea down. “...silly. Are you sure my family would like this? Are you even sure that I’m going to like it?”

“That’s what I said, before my friends showed it to me,” Jeremiah smiled, heading over towards the stairs. “Come on, I’ll show you where the family computer is upstairs. Someone uploaded some episodes on YouTube!”

Hours flew by until the clock had struck nine at night. For the past three hours, the two newfound friends had killed their time by watching none other than My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. They had started off with the first two episodes, and eventually made their way to episode nine, Bridle Gossip, before they could find no other episodes on YouTube. Oliver didn’t think he’d like it one bit, as a show about talking ponies couldn’t have been appealing to a boy.

But, to his surprise, he absolutely loved it.

After finishing the nine episodes, the rest of the night was filled with conversation of who their favorite pony was, what episode they liked the best, and even ideas for a made up episode or two. When asked the question of who his favorite character was, Oliver wasn’t even the least bit hesitant when he gave his answer—Applejack, the farm pony with three apples on her flank.

She was stubborn, honest, and even southern like he and his family—as someone who moved from Texas, he could obviously relate to that. She had a large family like his, although it was not nearly as big as the mare’s. He took a liking to her steadfast attitude and her competitive nature. But, above all things, he admired that she didn’t let silly things that seem evil on the surface cloud her mind with judgement. Like that episode where the six friends met a zebra named Zecora; she seemed strange and evil at first glance, but was actually very friendly when the ponies looked past appearances.

If only his parents would realize that...

“Hey, Jeremiah,” Oliver took in a deep breath, thinking on if he should say the words he was about to let out. “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure! We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Okay,” Oliver smiled, the freckled boy growing nervous, but tried to keep his composure. “There’s a reason why so many kids are wary around me.”

“Why? You’re great to be around,” Jeremiah lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t know why anybody would—“

“My parents.”

“What?”

“My parents,” Oliver repeated, his voice taking on a more angered tone. “They always see an interest that someone I made friends with has, and assume it’s “evil” or “the devil’s work”. They never see past first glances just because something is modern, and I’m sick of it! I’m nine, I’m not a baby!”

As he thought on it, memories flashed in his head. Bailey would try to convince their parents many times to let the children have more fun, since she’d been the oldest and thought they’d take her advice. But alas, nothing changed. Jacob was still being denied a phone, which he got bullied over not having one in the sixth grade. Lexi was tired of being watched over all the time while she went on her phone or on the family computer. Sam and Kyle admired at least the tiniest bit of cable freedom.

And Bailey was perhaps the one Oliver felt saddest for, for having to tell him and his siblings that she’d yet again failed to convince the heads of the house to change their mindsets.

“Hmm...” Jeremiah lifted a finger to his chin, and momentarily, Oliver sensed that he hatched an idea. “Listen, don’t tell anyone this, cause I’ll probably get in trouble if you do,” his new friend laughed. “But...I know how to burn DVDs. My parents don’t mind, they did it all the time when they burned music to CDs. I’ll find a blank disc and burn Bridle Gossip on there. You can show them the episode, cause I really think they need to learn the lesson from it, heh.”

Oliver blinked, thinking that it was a hopeless plan. But maybe—this was his only chance to finally break the cycle of whatever situation their family was in, and maybe they all would loosen up a bit towards “modern times”. Maybe Jacob would finally get a phone without having to wait two more years, like he’d been asking to? It was definitely worth a try.

“Well...okay,” Oliver nodded with certainty. “It’s a plan.”

The next morning was full of anticipation for Oliver. It was Sunday, meaning he had to get up early for church again, but this time he’d endure the church meeting because of one certain plan he had—finally breaking his family free of whatever nightmare they had been living in. He didn’t just want more freedom for himself, he wanted freedom for all of his brothers and sisters.

Right before he left, Jeremiah offered him an Applejack toy he’d gotten the previous Christmas, and Oliver happily accepted, tucking both the doll and the DVD in his jacket pockets so that nobody in his family would see them until it was time.

The meeting was over with rather quickly, to Oliver’s relief, probably because of his good mood.

Just after dinner, at around seven, Oliver finally decided he’d execute his master plan then and there, not wanting his siblings to suffer another moment like this. Was his goal to completely remove religion out of the house? No, he’d never. But at the very least, he wanted his parents to be less uptight.

“Mom, dad,” he approached his parents, who had just finished washing dishes, careful to make sure that they were in a decent mood. “May I have the family come in the living room, please? I need to talk to everyone about something important.”

The married couple exchanged glances, but then nodded, to Oliver’s shock. “Make it quick, though, you need to be in bed soon,” his mother noted.

That was one thing he’d hope would go away, too: ridiculously early bedtimes.

Surely enough, all nine family members had been present in front of the living room TV, gathered around it in curiosity, wondering what Oliver wanted to tell them. His parents even agreed to light the fireplace for the special meeting. After finding the courage to stand up after a few minutes, Oliver turned on the flatscreen television and the DVD player that was hooked up to it. The player was only used for watching religious documentaries or movies, with no non-religious movie or show on DVD being permitted. Until today.

Oliver took out the blank disc from his pocket that had been sitting within the fabric all day. He inserted the disc into the DVD player, but waited to press play until he made a small speech to his family.

“My new friend named Jeremiah showed me something amazing yesterday,” he began, a little scared. “A really good show that I feel like the whole family should watch. It has great characters and really good life lessons, too, I hope you enjoy.” And with that, the play button was pressed.

As the family looked near the screen in both confusion and wonder, the children adored the colorful ponies that came onto the television, and many “oohs” and “aahs” were heard echoing in the room. Oliver looked to his parents for a second, and thankfully, they had not yet reacted.

However, things went downhill fast.

As soon as Twilight Sparkle, the purple unicorn and main character of the show, began to speak of magic, curses and supernaturals, his parents exploded with anger, screaming at what they had just heard. Immediately his father took the disc out from its player and ripped it right in front of the boy’s eyes. Oliver cried out in protest, as his plan was backfiring in the worst possible way.

In a rash decision made in moments, Oliver took out the Applejack doll that was gifted from Jeremiah. “This is Applejack,” he boldly exclaimed, trying to finally stand up to his parents. “Jeremiah gave her to me. She reminds me of you guys. Except she knows not to judge at first glance. Don’t you understand? Just because something is modern doesn’t mean—“

“OLIVER TANNER OAKLEY!” Quite suddenly, Oliver was cut off by a fierce yell of anger by his mother. He winced, surprised by this, and heard gasps belonging to his siblings coming from behind him.

Bailey quickly came up front beside him, trying to calm the situation. “Mom—“

“Sit down, young lady,” Oliver’s father demanded, and the oldest did as such, looking at Oliver sadly. “Oliver Oakley, how dare you bring something so demonic into our home?” He ripped the pony doll from his son’s hands, and, quite quickly, he threw the orange mare into the fireplace, as his brothers and sisters screamed at the fact he would even do something as such.

Oliver, however, said nothing. Just sat there in absolute shock before he was deemed grounded for two weeks.

The blonde boy lay face down on his pillow, the cushion soaked with tears as his guilt wrecked through him like a flood of emotions. How did he even think that was going to work? Of course his parents would ruin things, like they always did. He probably wouldn’t be allowed to see Jeremiah anymore. Shame, he lost another friend, and it’d probably be harder to look for any more. He just continued to cry, hearing the muffled arguing between his parents and Bailey coming from downstairs.

Three knocks came from the other side of his bedroom door, and Bailey entered the dark room, flipping on a light switch. “Hey, kiddo, you all right?” She asked, her voice slightly raspy.

“No,” Oliver sighed, his voice quivering. “I tried to give us a better life, and I failed. I just made things worse.”

“Well,” Bailey smiled, as Oliver wondered why. “You know how I handle you and your siblings’ school fees, right?” Bailey had gotten a fairly decent job that had high pay, so she was able to help her parents with her younger siblings’ school payments.

“Uh...yeah?”

“Well, I checked your bag before mom and dad could, like always,” she explained. “And...well, I’m not sure if you actually like My Little Pony, but—“ she held out a slightly familiar blank form that Oliver had received on Friday. It was a permission slip for a field trip to PonyPark on February 12th. Admission was about sixty dollars per student, as the tickets themselves cost the same price. The elementary school had good budget, so it would be no trouble to pay for flights and hotel fees.

“I worked my butt off to save up $60,” Bailey sighed, but still smiled at her little brother.

‘That’s why she was working so late? Because of me?’

“But, it was worth it in case one of ya’ll had eventually caught onto the whole pony craze. Internet access is great when you’re up to date on these kinds of things. So, do you—“

She was cut off when Oliver gave his big sister a hug, tears of both joy and sadness getting on her red shirt in the process.

“Thank you,” whimpered Oliver. “Thank you so much. I love you.”

“No problem, kiddo,” Bailey chuckled. “I’ll tell mom and dad you went to Washington for a monument tour for that weekend or something. They’ll believe me if it comes from me, trust me.”

Oliver walked alongside Jeremiah and his mother in pure joy. Being grounded was worth it if it meant being in a place based off of his new favorite show. Jeremiah’s mom had been kind enough to chaperone the two young boys, so it was inevitable that they’d want to partner up.

Oliver gasped in awe as they entered the park; it was as if he’d stepped into Equestria through a TV screen. Bliss filled his senses, and he took in the smiling children he saw around him. It was nice to see happy faces of younger and older kids for once instead of everyone asking when they’d get to have more freedom.

He, Jeremiah, and the rest of the class who arrived for the trip were instructed to follow their fourth grade teacher, Mrs, Lockwood, to a very gigantic roller coaster near the end of the Ponyville area of the park. Oliver recognized the coaster’s color scheme immediately, belonging to none other than Rainbow Dash herself. No wonder why it was named Sonic Rainboom.

Mrs. Miles explained to her students that they may ride on it if they may choose; they were currently studying how different types of energy worked, such as kinetic and potential energy, which could be easily applied to the huge coaster. Maybe that’s why they went on the trip?

Oliver didn’t want to go on the ride, fearing the large drop that made anxiety numb him just by looking at it, but it didn’t take much convincing from Jeremiah for him to give in.

When it was their turn, he, Jeremiah, and his friend’s mother had loaded onto their carts, near the back. He spotted a few kids in front of him, ones whom he was glad to see happy. He grew tired of seeing sad faces of children.

He noticed the crowd of people who had just gotten off their cart—a blonde girl, a boy with glasses, and another boy with a blue DSi sticking out from his pocket. It seemed like the ride was widely popular.

Both excitement and nervousness filled him when the cart started going—and then it stopped. He heard a worker from behind declare that the ride was broken, and looked back when he saw a young girl with red hair yell out at this, and saw her ran off somewhere in the distance. What, he couldn’t stop seeing sad kids here, too?

After removing themselves from the ride, the three park guests decided a bite to eat would do themselves some good. Jeremiah suggested SugarCube Corner, a restaurant that would sell breakfast and lunch, as well as dessert snacks. That sounded good to the other two, so they searched for the iconic bakery.

Strangely, there was no line. Oliver, in front, opened the pink door leading to the sweet shop, and saw that there were only three people sitting at a table. Looking closer, he recognized a young girl sitting there. The same girl who had cried for the ride not working earlier.

Oliver slowly approached the girl, leaning down to her height as he and the others entered SugarCube Corner. The girl looked back at him, as he said, “Hey, I’m really sorry about—“

“Hey!” A shrill voice from behind cut him off, and he whipped around to see an employee wearing a name tag with the name “Melissa” on it. The woman smiled, but her tone was firm. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave, please. We have a birthday party going on here right now!”

“O-oh! We’re so sorry!” Jeremiah’s mother apologized, but Melissa insisted things were all right.

Of course, the next best decision was the other restaurant, Sweet Apple Acres. Oliver was happy about this; where else would be better to eat than somewhere based off of the home of his favorite pony?

To say the food was good would be an understatement, as the chefs in the restaurant were very good at their talent, serving many apple-based delicacies to the customers. Both having full bellies, Jeremiah and Oliver stayed together, trying to find the bathroom.

After searching for a minute, the two of them found where the male bathroom was. The room with three teal stalls was strangely dark, with the only light illuminating the restroom were two fake candles that sat onto the sink. No other human was in the two boys’ presence.

“This is kinda scary,” Jeremiah whispered.

“Yeah,” Oliver agreed. “But it’s kind of fun!”

A strange THUD caught their attention; it seemed to be coming from inside of the bathroom walls. Wondering what it could have been, Oliver and Jeremiah looked curiously at the tiled wall, having to squint their eyes a little bit to adjust to the darkness.

“You boys need some light?” A strange voice echoed behind them. It sounded feminine, with a southern hint to it. Oliver initially feared the worst—that his mother had somehow tracked him down, and was here to take him home and ground him even longer. When he turned around, though, he saw a familiar face smiling at him.

Applejack. The farm pony. A trio of apples presented themselves on her flank. Oliver had to rub his eyes multiple times to make sure he was not asleep, even pinching himself quite a few times as well.

“I’m the Element of Honesty,” Applejack giggled at Oliver’s efforts. “I don’t lie, sugarcube. You ain’t dreamin.”

“A-Applejack?!” Oliver had yelled in surprise so loudly that Applejack and Jeremiah had to quiet him down while he was experiencing so much excitement.

“You! You’re real!” He pointed at the orange pony wearing a brown hat. “You’re actually real!”

“What’s your boys’ names?” She asked.

“Oliver!”

“Jeremiah!”

The mare gave a small chuckle.

“I reckon you two have heard of Equestria, right?” The farm worker asked the two boys, as her green eyes seemed to shimmer in the dark restroom.

“Of course!” Jeremiah exclaimed. “Why wouldn’t we know where you come from, Applejack?”

“I can take you there,” Applejack placed a hoof on Jeremiah’s hair, ruffling it a bit playfully. “But—I need you two to be honest.”

“Honest?” Oliver questioned, still trying to keep his voice low. “Honest about what?”

“Anything,” the mare let out a snort. “I ain’t got no heavy trade you have to make. Just confess somethin’, and the ticket to Equestria is yours.”

Wow...it was that easy?

Oliver felt something in his gut, like it was telling him to run. His gut had always been right about many things, especially when it was telling him if something was good or bad. He was getting the notion that Applejack was somehow evil, but that thought lingered deep beneath many layers of excitement. Applejack couldn’t be evil, she’s the best pony that he ever knew of! Was he really going to be just like his parents?

“Well?” She eyed Jeremiah first, expecting an answer to come out of him.

“Uh...” Jeremiah rubbed his head, before coming up with an answer. “I...burned discs. A lot of them. With stuff...downloaded illegally...”

“Okay,” Applejack nodded, and turned her gaze to Oliver. “And what about you?”

“Well, I...” Oliver couldn’t think of anything right there and then, but didn’t want to waste Applejack’s time. So, without thinking, he blurted out the current issue he had on his mind. “I-I don’t know if I can trust you! My gut, it’s telling me to run, and I...well...I’m sorry.” He sunk to the ground, and put his head in his knees in shame.

He felt a hoof on the top of his head. He looked up, seeing Applejack had moved right in front of him, smiling. “Sugar, it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m sorry,” Oliver repeated, as he started to sniffle. “I...just...hate my life back at home. I feel trapped, like I can’t trust anyone. My parents always keep me and my siblings on watch for everything, and think modern things are evil. It’s like we’re trapped in a cage and we can’t get out!” He began to sob right into his knees, and Applejack stroked a hoof across his cheek after lifting up his head, wiping away his tears.

“In Equestria,” she began. “None of those problems exist. How’d you like to live there, sugarcube? You’ll never see those horrible parents of yours again.”

“But...” Oliver tried to settle his sobs. “How?”

“Jeremiah,” Applejack looked back at the other boy. “I’ll come fetch you in a minute, okay? I want to show Oliver how to get to Equestria first. But tell nopony!”

Oliver smiled, looking at Jeremiah, who had a smile on his face as well. He couldn’t believe it; Applejack was going to show him how to get to Equestria!

As soon as Jeremiah shut the bathroom door, Applejack returned her gaze to Oliver. “All right, sugar,” she said, in that same southern tone. “Let’s make this quick. I don’t want to waste your time, or mine, either.”

Oliver’s smile fell. “What—“

“You’re not that young, I’m sure you understand,” she hummed, as Oliver backed up against the wall in slight fear. That gut feeling returned to him, but he still trusted the farm pony enough to remain where he was.

Applejack continued, while stretching her legs. “I’m sorry, darlin’. At least you’ll be far away from here, though.” She started to laugh darkly, with a hint of malice in her tone. “I ain’t gonna lie and sugarcoat things, like my friends wanted me to. Gotta stay true to my element, heh.”

“Applejack—?”

“Hold still!“ Within moments, Oliver felt a powerful kick of hind hooves straight to his head. Red liquid leaked out from his brain, and splattered onto the tiled walls and floor, with some of the substance getting onto the stall. He could hear Applejack grunt in frustration as her kicks continued, as his skull felt pain burst through it.

The farm pony continued, and Oliver did not return to the other side of the door where Jeremiah was waiting for him.

Genevieve

Orlando, Florida. Home to many theme parks that many children and adults had grown to love. Disney World, Universal Studios, and SeaWorld had been the big three attractions that had caused Florida to be a tourist hotspot. No other theme parks in America had been as popular, and the brand names had expanded globally.

Around 2004, certain company expressed desire to be the next worldwide success. They needed to explode around the world, with something that would pull many people in. For years they were known as a decently successful toy company, but they wanted to be something more. Something huge.

April 2004 rolls around. The company had found it. The special spark that would have their name be heard all around the world. That company was Hasbro, and their spark was a complete retooling of the entire My Little Pony franchise. As the show was being created, it was carefully crafted to be perfect for just a little over six years. Hasbro had been dead set on its success that they even built an entire theme park based off of the developing cartoon starting in 2006.

This was it. Their huge hit.

Genevieve awoke in her bed on a partly cloudy Monday. As per usual, the only thing she would see at first glance would be ponies. Lots and lots of ponies. In fact, it would be the thing she’d majorly see in her family’s huge house. Many would say that ponies were the family’s life.

Well, it was true. The brunette girl had been born into a large family, one that was responsible for the creation of the My Little Pony franchise—partly, at least. Her grandmother, at least to her knowledge, had known Bonnie Zacherle herself, the one behind the creation of the original toy line from way back in the 80’s. They had only been friends, though, but according to Gran, she and Bonnie would talk of horseback rides and types of horses and ponies in their elementary school years. They parted ways come middle school, but Gran still remembered nearly every moment of their friendship.

Genevieve’s relatives were all pretty involved in the franchise thanks to it. Heck, her mother and father were even employed as Retail Merchandising Reps. They were both ambassadors to the My Little Pony reboot, and not only worked with marketing for the show, but for the theme park as well. PonyPark was a huge hit, and the massive amount of money it would pull in would only grow by the day. They lived in Orlando, which was the same location as the park, and it was only a short twenty minute drive away from their home.

More often than not, Genevieve would be seen as the fifth grader who knew the “secrets” and the “future” of My Little Pony, at least for the popular cartoon show that had taken over her school: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. In truth, she liked the show and watched the new episodes when they’d premiere on Saturday mornings. The ten year old would get bombarded with questions on what the next episode was about, if PonyPark was going to get any updates, and even if there were plans for a feature film. No matter how many times she would say she was out of the loop, it didn’t prevent people questioning her every day. She was popular, but for the wrong reasons.

Once she had gotten dressed for school, Genevieve arrived downstairs, many faces of pony toys on shelves and around furniture greeting her like they did every morning. They didn’t own just the latest toys, but ones from the first, second and third generations as well. She had favorites from every generation—Sundance, Golden Glow, Minty, and Twilight Sparkle. Something about that snarky bookish unicorn from the newest iteration made her smile every time she watched her on the cartoon show. It was probably her sarcastic attitude and the fact that the pony was a bookworm, which reminded the human girl of herself.

She could see her parents—Mark and Alice Lockhart—waiting for her once she came downstairs. Strangely, instead of packing her lunch and getting her backpack ready, they were instead holding three suitcases. Genevieve thought they were going on yet another business trip, as their jobs would usually call for it. However, when Genevieve reached for her purple, glittery backpack, she was stopped by her mother handing her a dark red suitcase.

“We’re not taking you to school today,” said the blonde woman with a smile. Genevieve raised an eyebrow, but just followed her parents to the family’s silver car. Once the ten year old buckled herself into the back seat, she once again began to question her parents of where they were going.

“Your mother and I are having a couple of meetings with some nice people from Hasbro,” explained her father. “It’s just some things about PonyPark, and we got free admission. It took some convincing, but they allowed us to take you with us!”

Genevieve had been to the park before—the grand opening was her first visit, to be exact. She remembered the many faces of anticipation it brought when the large fence guarding it was put down for the first time. It was decently fun; she enjoyed many of the rides and attractions that reminded her of the television show. But, this time around, things didn’t seem as exciting. She expected many long hours of nothing but looking at people with suits on explain business plans. Oh, well, at least it was a free trip.

The Monday had gone by slowly once Genevieve and her family arrived to the park grounds. She expected that they were going to be directed to the newly opened hotel at first, but instead, her parents drove directly past it. Weren’t they staying until Sunday? Genevieve wanted to ask yet again where they were going, but all was answered when they had arrived to a strange looking toll gate with a man in a formal suit inside of a box beside the single booth.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart flashed some sort of slip to the man, and the suit-wearing man gave them both a thumbs up. Her father drove off once the barrier was lifted, and for about five minutes, Genevieve could see only trees. However, after a little while, her dark brown eyes fell upon a very tall, pointy building that almost resembled a skyscraper. It was a bright, shiny blue structure with the walls on the outside resembling a crystal-like surface. It looked to be about at least three hundred feet tall.

The silver 2008 Ford Focus pulled into a nearby parking lot, and after Genevieve exited the back seat, she took in just how massive the castle-looking building was. It towered over her, even from far away, and it made the girl slightly intimidated. Was this some kind of hotel that the park hadn’t revealed yet?

She and her parents began to walk towards the huge structure, and soon they were met by many posh-looking individuals, many wearing expensive suits and dresses of all kinds. Genevieve looked to a tall man who greeted her parents with a handshake, along with the rest of the group, which were about ten people. After greeting everyone, including herself, the man stepped to the front of the group with a smile.

“Good morning, everyone,” he said boldly, with a slightly deep voice. “Now that Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart are here, we can get started. My name is Benjamin Garret, and I’m a Senior Brand Manager of the My Little Pony franchise. For years now, I have been tasked with overseeing the creation of PonyPark, our lovely theme park based off of the amazing cartoon show so many of you love.”

Genevieve tuned most of the words out, as this was already beginning to seem very boring. She hardly understood why anyone would want to work in such a mundane job as corporate business of all things. She wished she had brought along her Harry Potter book along with her to make the time pass faster, but the only thing she had to distract herself was her daydreams.

Yawning, she followed the group of people in suits and dresses; her regular yellow t-shirt stood out among the crowd, but she didn’t care. None of this particularly mattered to her.

The group of businessmen and businesswomen followed Mr. Garret into the same tall building Genevieve had seen when they first arrived. Mr. Garret’s plan was to give the crew a tour of their next expansion of the park, which sounded a bit exciting at first, but then brewed down to lots of boring talks about marketing and brand expansion, and other things Genevieve barley understood.

The castle looked to be a hotel, just as the girl suspected. It wasn’t like the other hotel near the already opened sections of the park. It was way bigger, spawning about 25 stories as compared to 11 from the other hotel. Instead of the building being rectangular shaped, it was instead in the shape of a castle that Genevieve hadn’t seen before on the show. Huh, maybe she was going to find out about future stuff for once.

“What you see here is a replica of a castle that will be introduced later in the series,” Mr. Garret explained firmly. “We call it the Crystal Empire Castle. I don’t know much of the story behind it, but they had to start building this beauty about two years back. Their work really paid off, even if it’s not fully complete yet. We will be staying here over the two days of our visit.”

‘Not completely finished yet?’ Genevieve wondered internally. If it wasn’t finished, then why would they be staying in it?

“Of course, it’s completely safe to stay in,” the businessman gave a chuckle. “We just need to put a few finishing touches here and there before opening this new area to the public around February next year after the debut of season two this September.”

February 2012 was just a year away, but Genevieve wondered why they had to start on this so early. Yes, they had to build the humongous castle, but...how was the story even finalized this quickly? After all, the show had just started in October, which was only four months back. Even if the park opened a month earlier, there was no way possible that the story of the show—or at least its first and second season—had been complete this quickly.

Eventually, the crowd had taken a few turns in the castle hotel, as Genevieve looked down to see her reflection perfectly mirrored clearly on the floor’s reflective surface. It was as if this hotel was actually made of real crystal. A quick elevator ride to the third floor led them to the first set of hotel rooms.

“Now,” Mr. Garret started, putting up a hand to stop the following crowd. He had stopped in front of a door that led to one of the rooms, and the white door had a blue shining heart on it, with gold shapes surrounding the gem. “We’ve added a new feature to the rooms here. They differ from the old hotel rooms in many ways. For example,” he paused, and opened the door, and a semi-loud speaker began to produce sound.

“Hello!” A chipper voice sounded. Genevieve recognized it almost instantly. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and welcome to the Crystal Empire Castle! I hope you enjoy your magical stay here at PonyPark!”

The voice stopped talking, and everyone in the room applauded, clearly impressed by the door’s feature. Mr. Garret then opened the door further, letting the group take a look inside of the hotel room itself.

It was way more sleek and shiny than the rooms back at the other section of PonyPark, having a more “royal” feel to it. Pink curtains presented themselves over the windows, and a large flatscreen TV was mounted onto the wall. A balcony was on the other side of a sliding door, letting many see the grounds of the future area of PonyPark. A turquoise heart-shaped vanity sat in the corner of the bedroom, and purple sheets with a Victorian pattern on them was placed onto the neatly made beds.

“As you can see,” Mr. Garret began to speak again. “We want to become more interactive with our guests. And that’s just one way we’re willing to expand the park. Let’s head back down, there’s much more to see today.”

They had retreated from the hotel, and were now walking to what looked like a train station. Genevieve seemed to recognize it, as it seemed to come from the show, looking like a near exact replica, with the difference being the train looked a bit more modern. She wondered if it was just a prop, or a real working train.

“Welcome to the Friendship Express,” Mr. Garret had all attention on himself again. “This will take guests not only back to the Ponyville and Canterlot section of the park, but also to our next new location.”

About a four minute train ride had passed, and the group had arrived to a shady-looking area that resembled a dark forest. Both real and fake trees were planted around the area, as the guests walked upon the path leading to a clearing.

“This is the Everfree Forest section,” Mr. Garret yet again broke the slightly eerie silence. “Here, we have two water rides, a Zecora meet and greet, and even a Castle of the Two Sisters attraction.”

As if on cue, they had suddenly arrived upon a castle that appeared broken down and covered in moss. Genevieve gulped, as it looked a bit scary, but nonetheless, it was pretty cool. A bridge that had been broken in half was above about a two foot gap, one that children could easily pass over.

“The Everfree is more of a maze than the other areas,” said Mr. Garret. “Little ones will have a blast exploring it.

Although they were outside, little to no light from the sun shone through both the real and faux trees. It was as if they were transported into the actual Everfree itself. Genevieve stayed close to her parents, her childhood fear of the dark slowly starting to emerge once more.

Next up was a showcase of the two water rides: one was a small boat-ride for toddlers to go on, which had only three small wooden boats with two seats on each. The wooden boats resembling logs would go around in a circle a few times, and only one tiny drop would be a thrill to small children.

The other ride, however, was much more thrilling and intimidating: an indoor coaster with many drops that would leave riders splashed. It simulated a haunted journey filled with various monsters and scary-looking trees as guests were guided by Twilight Sparkle to escape the forest—at least according to Mr. Garret’s words. It wasn’t completely finished yet.

Finally, about after two and a half hours, the tour was finished. The people attending were either allowed to stay in the park for the rest of today and tomorrow if they chose to do so, or get back to their homes as soon as the meeting ended. Of course, as Genevieve and her family only lived twenty minutes away, they were going to stay for two days. Genevieve looked back at the gray castle for a moment, thinking she saw something purple, but brushed it off as she and the rest began walking back to the train station.

Genevieve jumped awake in a cold sweat in her hotel bed. It had been hours after her parents had gone to sleep for the night. Their room had included the regular suite, along with another smaller bedroom with a twin bed covered with violet sheets that had Twilight Sparkle designs on them.

After spending the day in the park, Genevieve, her family, and the other Hasbro employees who decided to stay were treated to a nice buffet dinner hosted on the second floor. The food was cooked phenomenally, and they were even treated to a wonderful chocolate cake for dessert. Genevieve was given a Twilight Sparkle plush by Mr. Garret himself as a gift to the Lockhart family.

The brunette girl kept trying to find warmth in her bed, as her room had grown unusually cold later into the night. The small clock on a nearby table read 1:52, way past the time Genevieve should have been sleeping—but she had a nightmare that seemed almost too real.

She had been in the Everfree forest, though she couldn’t tell weather or not it was the park’s version of the dark area, or the real thing from the series. Something was chasing her, though she didn’t quite know what it was. It cried out a sickening wail, as it echoed across the entire forest eerily. The girl ran as fast as she could to try to get away, but it pounced, and she awoke in the middle of the night.

She looked at her Twilight Sparkle doll and sighed, trying to get the bad dream out of her mind. It felt like hours before she was able to fall back asleep again.

The next day had been nothing special. It was almost a repeat of Monday, except this time, the family had traveled to Canterlot instead of staying in the Ponyville area. A carousel ride and a Ferris wheel ride seemed like simple things, but Genevieve adored them both after the experience she and her family had while riding on them. Simply being at the park made her feel as if she was five again.

However, whenever she had been near park grounds, a strange feeling stuck to her. Almost as if she was being watched by something other than the sea of people attending the park. She didn’t know why, and tried to ignore it, but this never made the feeling go away.

Night fell yet again and Genevieve found it easier to fall asleep this time, as she snuggled the Twilight Sparkle plushie from Mr. Garret. It made her feel more at ease in the dark room, and made it as if the unicorn was right there by her side.

When she had fallen asleep, though, the same nightmare from yesterday had repeated itself. But there was one simple change to it: she could feel pain. Large amounts of pain she never knew she could experience. As soon as whatever was chasing her pounced on her, and ripped at her flesh with many rows of sharp, jagged teeth. Genevieve had felt every single nerve being struck with pain even if she was dreaming, but was not able to scream.

Once again she startled in bed in a cold sweat, looking over to the clock to check the time. 1:30. Twenty two minutes earlier than last time. She stretched and yawned, and decided to freshen up in the bathroom.

As soon as Genevieve opened her hotel door, she froze in fear as a loud speaker started up on its own.

“Hi! My name is Twilight Sparkle. I want to be your friend!”

It was that annoying speaker that activated when someone would enter the room. But...that was only when someone enters through the front door from the hallway, not any door within the hotel room. Maybe it was some sort of bug.

“Hello! My name is Twilight Sparkle. I hope you have fun here in PonyPark!” Again, the speaker flared to life, but without any action being made to trigger it. All Genevieve had done was walk a few steps from her bedroom door. It was starting to freak her out a bit, but she had to remind herself it was probably just an error the park staff were going to fix before this hotel officially opened.

“Hel-l-llo-o-o-o! My name is T-T-wilig-g-g-g-t Spa-a-rkle-e-e,” Twilight’s voice came out of the speaker on the ceiling a third time, but this time around it had glitched and was slightly slowed and deeper in pitch. “L-L-Let’s go t-to Eque-e-e-estria-a-a-a-a!” Genevieve felt sweat move down across her body as panic started to settle in.

She swiftly made her way to the bathroom and back to her bed, hoping that the glitches in the speaker were over with. But that had just been wishful thinking as the speaker continued to blast out the mangled mess of Twilight’s dialogue as the night progressed.

“D-do you know you-u-u’re all m-m-my very best f-frie-e-e-e-ends?”

“Princess Celestia wou-uld love it if y-o-o-ou would come down to Canterlot a-a-and had a picture made with her!”

“Ever-r-ry day is a perfect day in E-E-Equestri-i-i-i-ia!”

No matter how much Genevive blocked it out, the voice did not stop until the clock had turned 2:30 in the morning, leaving her nearly restless as she clung onto her Twilight plush.

That Friday, family had come to visit Genevive and her parents. The three of them had received six free passes to the park in regard to working so hard for this brand at Hasbro themselves. They called up relatives that lived nearby, including Genevieve’s Gran, her Grandfather Micheal, her two cousins who were both eleven, Mary and Ellen, her Aunt Lucy, and her Uncle Phil. Of course, they too were deeply involved with ponies, with Gran knowing Bonnie, and her Aunt Lucy being possibly one of the keys to the current reboot. Her parents gifted each of them one of the passes that would last until New Year’s Eve of that year.

Aunt Lucy had told a story to Genevive before, back when the reboot first aired on October 10th of last year—many more relatives had come over in celebration of it. She didn’t remember the whole story, other than how it was about her meeting a girl who liked ponies back when the two of them were little. It was a different person than Bonnie, but it had been so long since she heard the tale that she’d forgotten the name of the other girl.

They all had been treated to dinner cooked by Genevieve’s parents, and then gathered around the living room, yet another room that was surrounded by pony toys. Her Gran was admiring an original doll of Butterscotch, one of the first flat-footed ponies to ever be released. Aunt Lucy, on the other hand, was looking at the ponies from 2003, specifically eyeing a Wysteria doll that had a flower in her hair.

Genevieve approached her while all of the others were talking, and asked her, “Aunt Lucy, can you tell me that story you told from when I last saw you again? I forgot how it went, so I was just curious.”

Aunt Lucy looked from the doll to Genevieve, and smiled. “Of course. I don’t think Mary and Ellen have heard, either.”

The two blonde twins who were just mentioned looked over to Aunt Lucy. They said in unison, “Heard what?”

Aunt Lucy sat in a nearby chair, and took in a deep breath. “Let me tell you the story of two little girls who shared a deep love for ponies.”

The year was 1985. Early in June. Another summer had blessed Malibu beach with many fun-filled days of suntans and pool parties. Kids and teens were out of school, free to do as they pleased for the next two months. California was a popular hotspot for summer fun every year.

An eleven year old brunette girl named Lucy walked along the sand, water hitting her feet every time it splashed against the shore. The sun was beginning to set, and twinkling stars began to show themselves faintly as the sky slowly turned from blue to dark indigo.

Lucy, with a vanilla ice cream cone in hand, sat on a nearby wooden bridge with a nice view of the crashing waves. She breathed in the salty sea air, enjoying the pure atmosphere of being at the beach at sunset. The evening felt magical.

Another girl had settled herself next to Lucy, prompting for the brunette to look over to her left. The girl also had an ice cream cone in hand, but it was a chocolate one instead of vanilla. Her hair was red, and was quite long for someone her age.

Lucy, not wanting to be rude, decided to introduce herself. “Uh, hi.”

The other girl turned to Lucy and smiled. “Hi.”

“How is your summer so far?”

“Good,” the redhair stretched her arms, and lay on her back on the bridge. “I like watching sunsets, especially at the beach.”

“What do they call the time when it’s just after sunset? You know, when you can just begin to see the stars come out?” asked Lucy, as she finished her ice cream cone, and lay back onto the planks with the other girl.

“They call it twilight,” replied the redhair. “I guess that’s how they gave her the name, heh.”

“Gave what the name?” Lucy was confused.

“Oh! Let me show you,” the redhair reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small pinkish unicorn with purple and white hair. Her mane was styled as if it had been straightened.

“Have you heard of My Little Pony before?” she said. “This is Twilight. She’s a unicorn. I could have brought more, but, this was all I could carry,” she sighed solemnly.

“What other ponies do you have? I think a few of my friends used to play with those,” replied Lucy, as she looked at the pink unicorn toy.

“Oh, well, there’s Posey,” the redhair began. “And Glory, too. And Firefly, Applejack, and Surprise. They’re really fun to imagine stories with!”

“Wow,” Lucy imagined what the other ponies she listed off looked like in wonder. “They sound pretty cool.”

“Yeah, and that’s not even all that I have, they’re just my favorites. A lot of people say I’m too old for ponies,” the other explained. “But I think I’m gonna like them for a long time.”

“Really? Why is that?”

“I imagine and daydream,” she replied. “A lot. When I play with those six ponies, I imagine a world far far away from here where they live in harmony. It would be pretty cool if it was real, right?”

“Yeah,” Lucy chucked, her imagination starting to imagine this world that the other girl had just described to her. “But, who knows? Maybe it’s out there somewhere.”

“Maybe.”

“I might just start a pony collection myself,” Lucy smiled. “Now that I’ve heard your story.”

“Well,” the other girl smiled back. “I’m glad I inspired you, even if we never meet again. Promise me if you ever come across a yellow pony named Bubbles, you’ll send me her, okay? I’ve been looking for her doll everywhere.” she laughed, and started to climb off of the wooden bridge.

“Wait!” Lucy held out an arm, and the other girl stopped in her tracks. “We never said our names. Mine’s Lucy, what’s yours?”

The redhair blinked, then smiled.

“My name is Lauren.”

The next day had rolled around, and the family had gone off to PonyPark once again. Since Genevieve’s parents worked for Hasbro, they got a massive discount on tickets, and the tickets only cost them $30 instead of $60. It was very useful, and the fact that they lived only twenty minutes away had been a blessing. Thanks to this, they’d come to the park every other Saturday to enjoy a day of fun.

They arrived around eleven thirty, and the first thing Genevieve wanted to do was go on her favorite ride in the park: Sonic Rainboom. It was usually a scary experience thanks to the huge drop, but to her, that’s what made it good.

Since they didn’t have lunch back at home, the three of them decided to dine at the Sweet Apple Acres restaurant, after finding out that SugarCube Corner was closed. They’d eaten at the barn-like restaurant many times before, admiring its apple and plant-based meals and desserts. Especially the apple cobbler, which was a popular favorite of many.

After eating, Genevieve excused herself to the bathroom. Approaching it, she saw two blonde boys walking towards the male bathroom, and they looked a bit sad. Curious as of why, the girl walked on over.

“Erm, excuse me,” she stammered. “You guys looked kind of sad. May I ask why?”

“Oh, uh,” the boy with green eyes said. “Sonic Rainboom shut down before we could ride. We really wanted to go on it.”

“Well, don’t feel too upset,” Genevieve flashed a smile, hoping to raise the two boys’ spirits. “I’m sure it’ll be fixed soon. I’m Genevieve, by the way,” she held out a hand, and the boy took it.

“Oliver,” he said, his frown turning into a smile. “And, you’re right. Maybe we can ride together later?”

“Sure!” Genevieve’s mood was also lifted at this. “It’s my favorite thing to do in the whole park.”

“After I leave the bathroom, maybe we can talk some more,” said Oliver, pushing the bathroom door open. “You’re a nice girl, Genevieve.” and with that, he closed the door behind him after his friend followed in.

Genevieve nodded, and soon after, she came out of the girl’s restroom after using it. She tried looking for Oliver and his friend, expecting them to be close to the men’s restroom, but saw them nowhere. That was weird...maybe they ordered something that messed their stomachs up? She just hoped they were okay so they could ride the coaster later.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming to Equestria today!” A Princess Celestia costume danced upon a stage above a large crowd of guests as the sun was beginning to set. Her voice spread across the park thanks to two large speakers set on each side of the stage.“Be sure to visit us again soon!”

The park was just about to close, and the closing stage show had ended with a lovely fireworks show just as it had every evening. Genevieve admired the accuracy and quality of the costumes; it was if the ponies stepped out of the TV screen and came into her world.

However, something about the Twilight Sparkle costume stuck out to her. Usually, all of the ponies and Spike would look around the entire crowd and danced around the stage as the audio on the speakers played. And that’s what was happening now—except, Twilight barley moved. The purple unicorn costume kept still most of the show and continued to stare directly at Genevieve, and it gave the girl chills as she thought about what happened with the hotel speakers earlier that week.

She tried to shake the nervous feelings off as the show ended, and she tried to find the nearest restroom in the Canterlot area. After promising her parents she’d be careful, she made her way to the slightly darkened bathroom near the Canterlot Castle. Wicked thoughts clung to her as she rushed to the sink and washed her face in cold water. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

The door opened behind her, and Genevieve expected to see her mother enter the restroom. “S-sorry, mom,” she stuttered nervously, still a little bit nervous. “I was just kind of...para...noid...”

She trailed off when she gazed upon what had entered the room. Her blood ran cold when she saw those same dark purple eyes stare at her the way they did from the stage. That scarily accurate mascot costume was now just mere feet away from her.

“M-m-my name is Twi-i-ilight Spa-ark-k-kle,” the voice was not coming from a speaker, and it didn’t sound muffled, so it couldn’t have been coming from inside of the costume. “D-d-do you want to be frie-e-e-ends?” Twilight’s voice was a glitched, garbled mess of static mixed with Tara Strong’s portrayal of the character.

“Stay away from me!” Genevieve, now in full panic mode, backed up against the wall. The mascot only drew closer, and continued to speak without moving its mouth.

“Oh G-G-Genevieve, I just wa-a-ant to be friends with you!” Twilight piped. This was Genevieve’s cue to run as fast as she could past the mascot and out of the door. The girl saw crowds of people no more, but any and all thought of being lost was thrown out the window when she saw that Twilight was now running after her at full speed. She darted, pushing herself to get away from that thing as fast as possible.

Genevieve’s lungs begged her to stop running, but she wouldn’t give up the chase until she was sure she was alone. She then remembered one fast way of transportation: the train. She didn’t know exactly where the Friendship Express was, but she wasn’t going to stop sprinting until she was on that train.

It felt like hours before Genevieve finally collapsed onto the grass, far away from any civilization by now. She could see only trees, and the moon was already beginning to rise as the sky grew darker at each passing moment. She could no longer hear the sound of galloping hooves following her—that was good. Her breath eventually slowed as she tried to figure out where she was.

A few minutes passed when her feet suddenly hit something hard on the ground. She looked down, trying to find out what it was in the darkness.

Train tracks. The train was close by. Looking as far as she could, she could see something very far away on her left. It had to be the train station. Praying that the train was still there, she dashed towards the station.

As she neared it, another silhouette came into view. Something much taller than her with a round light at the front of it. The train remained where it had stopped on Monday. To Genevieve’s surprise, the doors to the train cars remained open, and she climbed inside, thinking on how exactly she was supposed to get this large piece of machine started.

RUMBLE.

The girl fell as the train suddenly came to life all on its own, and in mere moments, it sped onto the track so fast that Genevieve was flung backward to the very back of the train car. The doors slammed shut on their own, a loud sound echoing all around her at the impact. She climbed onto one of the seats, and held on for dear life as the train seemed to speed towards its destination faster and faster.

It felt like hours, but in reality, mere minutes passed when the train finally came to a sudden stop. Genevieve was flung forward at the sudden brake, and her body slammed into the seat in front of her. Trying to regain her composure, she saw the train doors open miraculously on their own, just as they had closed on their own. Genevieve carefully stepped out of the train, checking around her to make sure she was exactly where she thought she was.

Her suspicions were correct. She could barely see it, but she knew she was back at the entrance of the unopened Everfree section of the park.

The galloping of hooves broke her out of her thoughts. She whipped around, and behind her stood a very angry Twilight Sparkle. She no longer resembled a mascot costume, because mascot costumes only smiled at all times. No, Twilight Sparkle was furious.

The unicorn’s magic flared up, and Genevieve was back to sprinting at full speed. Dozens and dozens of real and fake trees and plants overpowered her surroundings, and she tried to think of a good place to hide.

Then it hit her: The Castle of the Two Sisters.

Genevieve pushed passed many rows of trees, and saw in the distance what looked to be a broken building. Moss covered nearly every inch of the gray structure, and a few bricks were beginning to fall off. This had to be it. She charged forward, but fell on her face after she got about halfway across the bridge. Thankfully, she only fell down about three feet, but it still hurt a bit. She came to her feet, and went inside of the large, broken castle, closing the two wooded doors behind her as they creaked shut.

She couldn’t really see any good hiding spots, and tried to think as fast as she could what she needed to do to make sure Twilight didn’t see her. Her eyes darted until they fell upon a large pedestal that held five circular metal structures on it. She walked closer to the object, and through the pitch black darkness, she could see what resembled gemstones etched into the stones.

She hid behind the stone pedestal, and as soon as she did, Genevieve could hear the wooden doors to the castle slam open. Multiple growls entered her ears and shivers crawled down her spine as she knew who had followed her.

“You just had to mess everything up, didn’t you?!” Twilight Sparkle had fury dripping from her voice. “Our plan was perfect. So perfect. Then, you decide to run away, and ruin it! Do you know how long we’ve been waiting for this?!”

Genevieve had no idea what she was talking about, but tried to slowly make her way back towards the double wooden doors in hopes she’d escape the Everfree Forest, and eventually find her way back to the main park. She wanted to go home. She wanted to see her family again. But, maybe this wasn’t even real at all. Maybe she was having another nightmare again.

“I should have just killed you when I had the chance,” the unicorn growled, growing more aggressive. “Then again, I wasn’t really sure it was the right time...”

About a minute passed when hoofsteps were the only thing Genevieve could hear. She looked above her, seeing that the moon had reached its peak, and twinkling stars were now fully visible. She calmed her breathing while trying to remain as silent as possible.

“I GUESS NOW IS THE RIGHT TIME!“ Twilight was now laughing maniacally as her magic just missed its aim for Genevieve, and instead, it had completely shattered the five stones and the pedestal they were sitting on. The pony looked directly at the human with quite an insane expression. She no longer looked like a costume. She looked real. One hundred percent real. Her fur was no longer made of cloth and fabric, but real, genuine pony fur.

“Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Honesty,” the unicorn cackled insanely. “Now all that’s left is Magic!“

Her voice deepened significantly on the last word as she charged for the human girl again. Genevieve sprinted out of the castle, trying to avoid Twilight’s blasts of magical energy. Yet again she found herself running past multiple bushes and trees. Her lungs began to hurt as her body betrayed her, getting more feeble quicker than the last time she was running away from that maniac of a pony.

She tripped over a branch, as the deep growls continued to sound from behind her, and she froze in fear. She turned her head, seeing that Twilight was now just a few feet away from her, and burning, white-hot magic sparking from her horn.

She knew it was clear now. Twilight Sparkle was real. Twilight Sparkle was angry at her. Twilight Sparkle showed off many rows of sharp and jagged teeth. Twilight Sparkle’s hooves slowly merged into pointed, long claws. Twilight Sparkle’s white scleras flickered to black. Twilight Sparkle wanted to hurt her. Twilight Sparkle wanted to kill her.

That was the absolute truth.

She sprinted, trying to get away from the creature, even if it was all in vain.

She screamed as the teeth hit her back, crimson fresh blood pouring out of the her wounds. Any hope she had of remaining alive had been diminished. She was encased in a magical aura as she was flipped over onto her back, and claws entered into her stomach. The unicorn set her teeth onto where her heart was located, and Genevieve’s begs and pleas to be let go were replaced with screams and coughs of the human choking on her own blood.

Twilight Sparkle bit into her heart.

Nobody was close enough to the Everfree to hear the girl’s final screams.

Genevieve’s ears rang. She had no idea where she was. A dull ache hit her head as soon as she gained consciousness, and she could feel a cold ground that felt like dirt below her feet. She tried to stand, still not able to open her eyes, but fell. Most of her limbs felt numb. Was she dead? Was all that she just experienced some strange nightmare?

No. It felt too real to be a dream.

Part of her just wanted to lay there on the ground, fall back asleep, and hope she’d wake back up in her home bedroom. For a few minutes, she did just that, hoping she would pass out again. But, it was to no avail, and she just stuck to crawling on her hands and knees, which she could barley feel.

Her eyes still remained closed, as she feared what she would see if she opened them. For around fifteen minutes, she could tell even without her sense of sight that there was no sign of civilization anywhere. The only sounds she heard was the occasional tumbleweed and the winds blowing north every now and then.

The girl felt defeated as she kept crawling along the dirt path. Her numb hands and feet were beginning to grow quite dirty. She wanted to give up, and was about to...until her ears finally picked up some odd sounds.

It sounded like...wailing. Crying. Pure sorrow at its peak. Multiple young voices crying out in despair. As fast as she could, Genevieve crawled over to the source of the horrible noise. The closer it grew, the more obligated she felt to open her eyes. As much as it pained her to do so, she had no choice but to restore her vision as the wailing grew too much to handle.

Her eyes opened.

In front of her stood five familiar ponies. Each of them were crying, with tears falling across all of their distraught faces. Her eyes fell to the blue one...Rainbow Dash. But the voice that came out of the pegasus was not her usual one—no, it sounded more like a young human boy’s.

“PLEASE! I WANT TO GO HOME!” he shouted, as his eyes darted across wherever they were. Genevieve looked around, and saw that no sun gave light to the dark red sky. Around her were a few houses that looked like the roofs had been made of hay. Her eyes then fell upon a yellow pegasus. Fluttershy. Just like Rainbow Dash, her voice was not normal. It sounded much more like a little girl’s.

“FLUTTERSHY!” she shouted, making Genevieve wince back in fear.

Next to the animal caretaker was Rarity. The dressmaker’s voice was not the fancy, posh one that she had spoken in as usual, but yet again the pony’s voice had resembled one of a human boy. “I just...wanted to be...with you, Rarity...” he said in between heavy pants and sobs. His body lay on the dirt ground in defeat, his head in his hooves.

Pinkie Pie, who was usually very cheery, instead had done a complete 180 of her normal personality. Her voice had also been changed to resemble a little girl’s, like Fluttershy’s had been.

“Mommy...Daddy...I want to go home,” she cried. It pained Genevieve to hear those words.

Finally, Applejack, who wasn’t one to cry, was shaking and sobbing with pure fear and sadness. Her voice, of course, was changed...but this time, Genevieve could recognize it.

“Why...why...my head hurts...why...A-Applejack, why...”

...Oliver?

For the first time since she woke up, Genevieve spoke, although her voice was weak. “O-Oliver? Is that you?”

Applejack—or, Oliver—opened his eyes, and the green orbs widened when he looked directly at Genevieve. “...Genevieve...?...no, no...” He crawled back in fear, but Genevieve only stepped closer.

“Oliver, what...what happened to you...?” her voice was starting to quiver as she could feel herself begin to cry as well.

“G-Gen,” Oliver stuttered, the tears only flowing faster now. “Look down.“

Why did he want her to look down? It was only her hands and feet...

Her eyes fell upon her limbs. Her skin was no longer tan-colored, but now purple. In fact, she no longer had skin, but fur. She now realized why she couldn’t feel her hands and feet.

They weren’t hands and feet anymore.

They were hooves.

Genevieve just looked back at Oliver, in both bewilderment and fear. How was this even happening? “What...who are...”

“They’ve been crying for hours,” Oliver’s voice was still shaking. “I can’t listen to it anymore, Genevieve. It’s so painful to hear. I can’t...” his body fell to the ground, shaking in place as he wailed and wailed softly.

Genevieve turned her head back to Rainbow Dash, as she was still crying. She heard Oliver get back up, and he put a hoof on her shoulder.

“R-Rainbow Dash,” he choked out, trying to remain as calm as he could. “His name is Matthew. Fluttershy is J-Jasmine,” he couldn’t go on without pausing for a few seconds, the gap caused by more sobs coming from his mouth. “...Rarity, t-that’s...Robert. Pinkie...” again, he paused, seeming to cough and choke on his own tears. “...Emily.”

“Why are they...” Genevieve couldn’t finish her sentence as she saw the other four ponies continue to cry and weep, their tears soaking the dirt below them.

“Can everyone hear me?“ All six stopped their cries when a new voice suddenly sounded in their minds. Genevieve could recall who it was in mere moments.

Twilight Sparkle.

“You’re probably all wondering where you are, what you’re doing here, and why you’re in a pony’s body,” the unicorn laughed, and she had seemed almost too calm about the current situation. It made Genevieve’s blood freeze over.

“It’s simple. You six have been transported into our bodies! Well, not your FULL being...but just your soul. Your bodies are still in the park, just waiting to be discovered by whoever will be unfortunate enough to come across them!”

Confusion and fear spread across the five faces in front of Genevieve.

“How did we do this? It was all a matter of your belief, really,“ Twilight snickered eerily. “A motive that led you to believe that we were completely, physically present in your world. It could had been from excitement, shock...or, in my victim’s case, fear.”

“You see, we don’t exactly know who created us,” now they all could hear Rarity’s voice, although none of them could see her. Could these beings...communicate telepathically? “But whoever did made quite a huge mistake.”

“Because when happy creations mix with icky sad feelings of hate and despair,” Pinkie Pie was next. “Something like this happens, and you get us!”

“Ponies who are starving,” Rainbow Dash. “But aren’t able to eat.”

“Unless they’re able to gain physical bodies,” Fluttershy.

“We discovered that was the key,” Applejack. “The key to finally becoming physical completely. We had to merge with someone who was already physically present.”

“So,” Twilight’s voice finally sounded yet again in their heads. “You may be wondering if we did take you to Equestria after all. We did...except, it may not be the one you six are familiar with. When bad feelings mix with the pure and the good ideas of creation...it creates whatever we are. Something made of pure disharmony.

“We weren’t always bad, you know. For a while, we were made with love and passion. But, eventually, I guess someone messed up,” Twilight chuckled darkly. “And now? Ever since then, we have suffered. Forced to starve, unable to eat and satisfy this hunger in this absolute Hell. Until...now!

“Now that you six are in the picture, we can roam free in the physical world, free to satisfy our many years of hunger! Isn’t that just magical?”

“MOMMY! DADDY!” Pinkie—no, Emily, cried out in absolute sadness. “Let me go home, PLEASE!”

“Sorry, silly filly!” Pinkie’s voice piped up suddenly. “You’re stuck in Equestria forever!”

“I have to applaud my friends,” Twilight hummed. “They did a pretty good job of...moving your souls to our bodies.”

“Electrocution.”

“Poison.”

“Suffocation.”

“Bleeding out!”

“Head trauma.”

“Dismemberment.”

“Applejack, yours was so boring,” Rainbow Dash complained as the children were back to crying again.

“Ah wanted to be quick!” Applejack retorted in an angry tone. “You girls just took your sweet time. I, on the other hoof, didn’t want to waste Oliver’s time, and wanted be a decent mare without sugarcoating the truth with whatever bullshit ya’ll came up with.”

“SHUT UP!” Oliver screamed, scaring the other young kids. “SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! YOU LIED TO ME! YOU LIED TO ALL OF US!”

“We did,” Twilight’s voice seemed near monotone. “It’s just what we had to do, I’m terribly sorry if you all are disappointed.”

Genevieve looked at the five ponies in front of her, her mind racing a mile a minute. “Twilight...why am I...you...?”

“I’ve already explained that, Genevieve. Nothing but souls merging. It’s a very intriguing subject, if I do say so myself.”

Genevieve wanted to retort, but stopped when she felt a horrible pain near her stomach. She looked to see if something had injured it, but found nothing there. It was more of a pain she felt right before lunch or dinner. She looked at the five in front of her, and guessed that they were experiencing the same thing, due to their expressions of anguish.

“And now,” said Twilight in a mocking tone. “You finally get to feel the pain of the hunger we’ve experienced for years on end. Of course, there is a solution. One you might not find very pretty.”

A pause was made for a few moments.

“Human meat is what we crave.”

The six children gasped, and only continued to sob. Even Genevieve couldn’t hold in her fear anymore, and she screamed into the air, kicking at the ground as Twilight’s—along with her friends’—laughter echoed in each of their minds. Genevieve, feeling pure madness flow into her, slammed her head against the ground multiple times, trying to push herself into waking up. It hurt, but she had to.

“That won’t work,” Twilight informed her. “This is all real. Welcome to your new life in Equestria!”

Genevieve just whimpered, and ran to Oliver, the boy putting her head on his shoulder as she sobbed into it loudly. Her head hurt. Her stomach hurt. But most of all, her heart felt as if it was still bleeding from when Twilight bit it into pieces.

“We won’t do it!” Oliver screamed into the air, and Genevieve lifted her head. “We won’t feed on our own kind!”

“But you’re not your own kind, silly,” Pinkie Pie laughed at his protests. ”You’re ponies! Magical talking ponies with a hunger for humans!”

Oliver turned to Emily, and saw that the girl was taking it the hardest out of all of the six children. Oliver rubbed a hoof on her shoulder, but the girl with the party pony’s body only cried harder.

“Well,” Genevieve could almost feel Twilight smirk just by the tone of her voice, even if she saw nothing. “I believe we should leave you all to get to know each other. You can either decide to STARVE,” she growled at the last word. “Or, you can do both us and yourselves a favor, and go out and feed.” The six pony friends laughed, and after that, the voices were gone.

The children were back to crying, trying to process what they had just heard. Genevieve and Oliver looked at each other, and then looked back to the other four.

“Everyone,” Genevieve spoke firmly, and the other five gave her their attention. She looked at each of their faces, pained by seeing the fresh tears falling down them. “I...I know this seems awful. And, it is. B-but...” she was beginning to sob violently. “Even if we all just met, I-I...I want us to make the most of this, o-okay?”

“I don’t wanna be a cannibal!” Matthew cried out, and Genevieve’s heart continue to break.

“I want my Mommy and Daddy back!” Emily wailed, as Oliver continued to comfort her.

“I wanna go home...” Jasmine’s voice had grown coarse and weak.

Robert said nothing, and he only continued to sob onto the dirty ground. It was starting to grow muddy from tears.

“Please,” Genevieve raised her voice, trying to not sound angry from the amount of pressure that had just been forced upon her. “My name is Genevieve Lockhart. Please...don’t lose your hope. We’re not going to play their game. We will not eat our own kind. We’re going to get home.” Most of that were all lies told to give the younger kids comfort, but Genevieve just wanted their pained sobs to end.

“Genevieve is right,” Oliver gave as much as a smile as he could. “I think we should properly introduce ourselves. Oliver Oakley.”

The blue pegasus blinked away his tears, and then took in a deep breath. “Matthew Finley.”

“Jasmine Parker.”

“Robert Williams.”

“Emily Monroe.”

Genevieve smiled, even if it wasn’t one of her strongest. Even in this unique Hell, she had made herself five new best friends.

Hours had passed ever since the six friends had met. Oliver and Genevieve sat on a small bench near the devilish looking town square of Ponyville. They both looked over to the other four, who were now calmed down enough to keep their composure. Oliver and Genevieve felt relief once their cries had finally stopped, and the two had met a little ways away from the others.

“So,” the unicorn asked the earth pony. “How old are they?”

“Matthew is eight,” Oliver sighed. “Jasmine is seven, Robert is also eight, and Emily is five.”

Genevieve felt her heart crush yet again upon hearing just how young the others were. No children, especially ones as young as they were, should have been forced into this situation. “How old are you, Oliver?”

“I’m nine. You?”

“Ten.”

The two sat in silence as they watched the other four get to know each other just a little more. Genevieve broke the silence after a few minutes, as her dark purple eyes looked to the dark red sky that held no sun, moon or stars. “Do you think we’ll be able to do this?”

“I...don’t know,” Oliver admitted, sighing heavily. “But I hate seeing the suffering of innocent children. It’s always been a burden on me.”

“Well...” Genevieve looked back to the orange pony. The unicorn smiled at him. “How about we vow to protect them? Even if...” she paused, her smile faltering. “Even if...we do have to resort to what they want.”

“Of course,” Oliver nodded, looking back to the other children and then Genevieve. “No matter what, Genevieve.”

“Attention, my little ponies!” Without warning, Twilight’s voice caught the attention of all six children yet again. “I just need you to regroup for a moment. I have a simple task for you.”

Genevieve shivered nervously, but she and Oliver made their way back to the other kids. The six said nothing as they awaited for Twilight to speak up again.

Out of nowhere, a scroll with words on it appeared right in front of Genevieve. She tried to pick it up with her hooves, but failed to, as she was used to having fingers. Twilight snickered at this, but Genevieve chose to ignore that rather than start an argument.

“Genevieve, I just want you to read what that letter says. It’ll be good practice for...well, you being me, don’t you think?”

“My name is NOT Twilight Sparkle!” Genevieve yelled in protest, although it seemed she had been arguing with thin air. “My name is Genevieve Lockhart, and nothing you do or say will change my or anyone else’s identities!”

“You’ll learn soon,” Twilight snickered darkly. “Just please read what the letter in front of you says. Then, we will leave you six be until you need us again. As for the rest of you, let what’s written on the letter sink in. I think it’s a pretty fitting lesson about friendship after today’s events.“

Genevieve looked to Oliver, as the boy’s eyes read across the paper. She felt Matthew, Jasmine, Robert and Emily look at her in both fear and anticipation as she took in a deep breath and read out the words.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned something amazing.

Everypony everywhere has a special magical connection with her friends, maybe even before she's met them.

If you're feeling lonely and you're still searching for your true friends, just look up in the sky.

Who knows?

Maybe you and your future best friends are all looking at the same rainbow.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle”