Years gone by (Part one)

Note: this a fan fiction based off of the Netflix series "Unicorn Academy". This is in no affiliation with the actual show and is entirely made up. If you dislike it, then why did you waste your time in the first place. Please enjoy, and if you don't, then I don't care.

Child-like laughter echoes in his mind. Flashes of a young girl run through his head. The visions race faster and faster, growing louder and louder, until they come to a stop with a loud knock at the door. He opens his eyes to find himself in his room, safe. And alone.  

"Rory? It's almost nine. Are you up yet?" 

He curls further into the covers, his eyes drawn to a photo on the wall. 

"Yeah. I'm up." 

He sighs, throws off the covers, and swings his feet off the bed. He stares at the floor, his dream still fresh on his mind. 

"Just a nightmare. That's all." 

He slowly stands and walks to his closet, throwing on his riding clothes, and checks his hair in the mirror. A sad look lingers on his face as he heads to the door and puts his hand on the knob, not yet turning it. He looks back to the picture. 

"Happy birthday, Gabby", he whispered to the silence. 

"He's on his way! Hurry, hurry!" 

Ava rushes back to the others, who are frantically putting the finishing touches on the decorations. 

"Where's the tape?" Isabel shouts to Valentina, holding up the top corner of the banner to stop it from falling back down. Val tosses it to her and continues with the streamers. Layla sets up the table, and Sofia quickly puts the final touches on the cake. Ava hears his door open and gathers everyone in a panic.  

"Places, everyone!" 

Rory walks into the main room slowly, unaware. At that moment, Val and Is shoot the party poppers, the others jump out, and they all shout,  

"Happy birthday, Rory!" 

Rory looks at the party, shocked. Ava's enthusiasm wavers when Rory doesn't act excited and joyful, but instead gives a faint, sad smile. 

"Wow. Thank you all for doing this, I'm truly grateful but... I don't really celebrate my birthday. Not something i feel much like doing. I really appreciate it, but I think I'll just go for a ride instead. Feel free to enjoy the cake, though. It looks amazing." 

He continues to walk to the door, his attention once again drawn away from the others. They stand shocked at his statement. Ava sputters and Is looks bewildered. Sofia scoffs. 

"You're saying that you, the guy who loves parties, fun, and pranks, doesn't want to celebrate his own birthday?" 

He hesitates, halfway out the door. 

"Yeah, I just... don't really do that anymore..." 

He shuts the door behind him, leaving the others in complete surprise. Layla takes a brief start after him but stops. 

"Is... Is he okay? Did we do something wrong?" 

Sofia stares at the door he walked out of. 

"No, I don't think it's anything we did. There's something he isn't telling us, and i don't think he will." 

Val speaks up. 

"What if we try using the Imagin? We would be able to see what's bothering him." 

"I'm not sure. That's an invasion of privacy, and the only reason we used it the first time was to show each other's visions. And for that, we had to focus intensely on what we wanted to show. If he doesn't even know we're using it, he won't be focused and something could go wrong," Layla replied. 

They all nodded, except for Sofia. 

"It's worth a shot," she said, grabbing it and heading out the door after him. 

"Wait, no!" Layla shouted, running after her. The others followed quickly behind. 

Rory had reached the stables and opened Storm's pen. Storm whinnied happily at Rory, but he didn't share his joy. Storm noticed his lack of enthusiasm and nudged his head into Rory's side. He smiled sadly. 

"Sorry. I'm not into messing around much today." 

Storm neighed sadly at him, worried for his rider. Rory looked at Storm and noticed his disappointment. his rider. Rory looked at Storm and noticed his disappointment. 

"How about I walk you down to the stream so you can relax?" 

Storm still seemed concerned, but he nodded his head. Rory smiled weakly and attached Storm's harness. He slowly began to lead Storm out of the stables and down to the river. When they arrived, Rory detached the harness and sat down next to Storm on the bank. Rory wasn't aware of Sofia's approach with the Imagin. 

"Sofia, wait!" Layla urged, grabbing Sofia's arm to stop her pursuit. "This is incredibly dangerous and wrong. If he doesn't want to tell us, then that's his choice. It isn't our job to make him. Forcing him to tell us what's wrong isn't something I would ever do to a friend." 

Sofia looked down at the Imagin in her hands, then nods.  

"You're right. He'll come to us when he's ready."  

Layla breathes a sigh of relief, and the others visibly relax. Sofia looks one last time at Rory on the bank. 

"He just looks so sad. I've never seen him like this." 

Layla's brows furrow in concern.  

"We can't help him unless he comes to us." 

Sofia nods again, and turns back to the dorms. Suddenly, a Dwerpin runs by her feet, and she stumbles trying to avoid him. She trips, and the Imagin rolls out of her hands and down the banks towards Rory. Layla gasps. 

"Rory! Look out!" 

Rory turns a second too late. The Imagin bounces off a rise in the dirt and hits Rory square in the chest. A burst of light flashes from it, its usual gold now a menacing red. Rory yelps as the magic reaches him, engulfing him in its deep red mist. The magic comes to a stop, fully surrounding Rory. The red morphs to a cool blue and retreats back into the Imagin through a crack in the side. The view no longer clouded by the red mist showed Rory had fallen over near the edge of the stream, propped up on his hand, the other rubbing his eyes. Ava ran over to him. 

"Are you okay, Rory?" 

Rory blinked at her, then smiled. 

"Yeah, I'm fine! Um... Where am I?"  

Is shared a glance with Val, then turned her attention back to Rory. 

"Um. Unicorn Academy? Where else would you be?" 

His smile vanished, and a wave of confusion washed over his face. 

"I'm sorry. What?" 

"Uhh..." Sofia said. Val then walked up and turned his head to face the school. 

He blinked again, clearly confused. After a moment, realization dawned on his face. 

"Oh! I see. This is one of Gabby's pranks, isn't it?" 

"What?" Sofia asked. 

"Yeah! She does the biggest pranks on our birthday every year. Although this one seems slightly more elaborate than i'm used to. How did she get the resources for this?" 

Layla tentatively took a step towards him. 

"Who... who is Gabby?" 

He turned his attention to her for the first time. 

"My twin sister. Aren't you all in on this?" 

Layla bent down and picked up the broken Imagin. 

"Strange. I don't believe its ever done something like this before. It's almost as if..." 

She then gasped and turned to Rory. 

"What about Nuncior Academy? Have you heard of that?" 

He contemplated this for a moment. He snapped his fingers and turned his attention back to her. 

"Yes! That's the riding school Gabby and I are going to in the fall." 

Alarm flashes through Layla's eyes. 

"Oh no," She says anxiously. "Oh no no no no no..." 

She begins pacing back and forth with the Imagin still clutched tightly in her hands. Sofia grabs her arm to stop her and force her attention to return to them. 

"Layla, what is happening?" 

Layla looks to Rory, who is distracted by the Fate Fairies flitting through the trees. 

"I...", she begins. "I think that when the Imagin cracked, instead of projecting one of his memories to us, it stole some of them instead. And considering the fact that he doesn't seem to remember Unicorn Academy, he most likely doesn't remember us. And since he does remember the Nuncior invitation, then I think it took every memory after that. So the most recent memory he has right now is from his birthday... three years ago." 

Thanks for reading! Part two is on my page! (Note: part one will be so much better if you read part two as well)