PonyPark

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”