As every bit of sanity escaped from Reverend Martin's brain, his mind could only insist to itself that he was dreaming. That no horrors like the one towering above his mangled, bloody body could exist in the mind of the logical man...or the righteous man, for that matter. No, God would not allow it...it was just a nightmare, a horrible, abhorrent nightmare, and when he woke up things would all be better...
When he woke up, everything would be just fine...
Travis Townshend woke up at his desk with a start. He looked up, squinting his eyes tiredly. He was in his office. He'd fallen asleep at his desk, probably because he hadn't had his morning coffee.
He rubbed his temple and sighed. What had he been dreaming about? He could not remember, but he felt like it had been something awful. He had had some sort of bizarre nightmare, and yet he couldn't remember a single detail from it. He groaned. He had a terrible headache…..
His door flung open, and a gruff-looking man barged in. Travis sighed. The last thing he needed right now was another assignment.
"Townshend!" Chief O'Connolly barked. "I got an assignment for you!"
"Come on, Chief," Travis grumbled. "I'm a week away from retirement. Cut me some slack, why don't you?"
"No!" O'Connolly barked. "You are going to take this assignment and you are going to do it! It should be simple enough."
"Well are you gonna tell me it?" Travis asked, and O'Connolly replied by smacking a folder down on his desk. Travis picked it up and opened it. It was a stapled missing persons report , along with a collection of photographs. and stapled on the front was a photograph of a man of about forty, with dark hair, brown eyes and a stern expression. Travis could notice a priest's collar on him.
"This is Reverend Douglas Martin," O'Connolly explained. "He's a priest from the Small Town Conservative Church in Small Town, Nevada. He came down here to Los Angeles or Something to do some kind of….documentary, or so his wife says. Turns out the religious kook was investigating a childrens' show by the name of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."
He turned to a photograph showing a bunch of colorfully animated ponies smiling and hoof-waving around the title of the show, in large, pink bubbly font. Travis smiled a little. It seemed like something his daughter would have liked…
He immediately stopped smiling.
"The nut thought that there was something Satanic about the cartoon," O'Connolly said, letting out a sharp laugh. "Leave it to those Catholics, am I right? So what happened is, the good Reverend brought a small camera crew…..Jake Cameraman and Iris Producer-Directorlady…..down to the Studio Where They Make My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to investigate. None of them ever returned."
Travis looked up, curiosity getting the best of him.
"What could have happened to them at an animation studio?" he asked. O'Connolly shrugged.
"That's for me to speculate and you to find out, old man," O'Connolly replied. "The whole goddamn place has been abandoned for days. The whole building looks empty, and when you try to call….."
He flipped open his cell phone (it was old) and called the number. On the speakerphone, Travis could hear an elderly woman's voice….
"I'm sorry, but The Studio Where We Make My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is going to be closed for the next two weeks due to stuff and whatnot. Please feel free to leave a message, and stay magic!" There was then a beep, and O'Connolly hung up. Travis smirked.
"So the reverend and his crew go down to the little pony studio, disappear, and the whole place closes down the next day," Travis said. "Not fishy at all."
"Could've been an accident," O'Connolly shrugged. "Someone at the studio accidentally kills the guy, and they kill the others in a fit of panic and close the whole place down."
"Seems a little….far-fetched, doesn't it?" Travis frowned.
"Yeah," O'Connolly said, "but not impossible. I've seen it before. Then again, who knows….it could've been some Satanic ritual. Maybe the reverend was right all along."
Travis chuckled.
"It's probably a coincidence," he speculated. "The camera crew probably left the place and got kidnapped or something. You never know with this damn city. But if there really is any illegal activity involved….well, I can't say I feel too happy for the poor little girls who look forward to seein' the new episodes."
O'Conolly let out a grunt.
"Or the grown men, for that matter," he said. Travis looked up and raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Come again?" Travis said.
"The show is known for having an….unusual fanbase," O'Connolly explained. "Besides little men, there are a lot of men who enjoy the show. Ages 18-50."
Travis immediately puked all over his desk. He had seen some horrible things in his long career with the police force, but that…..
"What...what kind of sick fucking-" Travis sputtered, wiping vomit from his mouth.
"I….I don't know," O'Connolly whispered, a tear trickling out of the corner of his eye. He wept quietly for what has happened to humanity. So many homosexuals and pedophiles and whatnot….
After a long, grieving moment of silence, it was back to business.
"So I guess I should start heading out, then?" Travis asked.
"Not so fast there, old man," O'Connolly said. "You're not goin' alone. I want you to meet your partner….June Buggy. Wheel it in, June!"
A female cop with blue hair and a badge that said "Girl Gamer" stepped out.
"You can't be serious," Travis said. "The rookie?"
"She needs training from a good cop, Townshend," O'Connolly said. "I figured this would be a simple enough assignment."
"You might think that I'm bad at video games because I'm a girl but I'm not and I will beat you at Super Brawl Brothers," June said.
"Nothing prompted that," Travis observed.
Bitterly, Travis accepted the assignment, as well as the annoying new partner. Travis Townshend and June Buggy got into their police cruiser or whatever, Travis is just a detective so idk. But who gives a shit. Little did they know that this "Simple assignment"would turn out to be the most terrifying experience either of them had ever had.