The Forgotten

Prologue
The scene began in the abandoned studio of what was once the set of My Magical Unicorn, a show that had died away in the 1960s after only three seasons - a mixture of financial problems, lack of staff and the invasion of the Mighty Extreme Dudes craze all adding up and costing the studio dearly.

The once colorful set now lay in ruins, cardboard cut-outs of the characters of the show standing amidst the ruins - making for a rather haunting sight, their cheery grins and playful eyes gazing out into the vast emptiness.

The building had become so bad that it was condemned yet even as a sign clearly stated "Do Not Enter" outside a lone figure walked amongst the halls of the abandoned building, making his way to the set.

The figure stood in silence as he looked at the cardboard cut-outs of characters he was all too familar with - reaching into his pocket he took out a small camera and took a picture of the set before he turned away.

"At least now they'll have some memories of this place.." the man said quietly to himself as he walked back down the hall.

As the man walked down the hall and out of view one of the cardboard cut-outs suddenly shook a little and those playful eyes suddenly glowed brightly, the cheery grin remaining as a disembodied voice spoke out:

"..Wait.. Don't Go.. Come Back...".

Chapter 1 - The Chosen One
"Within everyone is a powerful gift - imagination.. from this gift is fashioned both our greatest desires and our greatest fears.. imagination is our comfort and our destruction.. once something has been imagined it can never truly disappear, you may forget about it but in time another will discover it.. though what they discover may well be something that should remain forgotten.."

Mark awoke with a start as he felt cold sweat dripping down from his brow, his heart beating fast as he quickly turned on the lamp next to his bed - sitting up and breathing heavily as he cleared his mind of yet another nightmare, the third in a row.. every night since he had entered that studio..

Looking over at his desk he gazed at that photograph, it was somewhat of an antique in this day of digital wizardry - an old-fashioned photograph that he had brought to "life" himself in his dark room: the colors somewhat faded but sufficent to show the set, the cardboard cut-outs of characters he knew too well as the sign stating in bold writing "My Magical Unicorn".

Mark shook his head as he took the photograph in one hand and stared at it, knowing that this was all crazy - yet he couldn't very well ignore the feeling of dread that still haunted him each time he looked at that photograph, as if he was staring at the image of some terrible tragedy.

Realizing he wasn't going to get much sleep that night Mark got out of bed and made his way over to his computer, turning the monitor on and giving a quick glance at his wall - which had a large poster of "My Magical Unicorn" as well as several stuffed toys depicting characters from the long gone show.

Mark was what some would call a collector - specializing in the "My Magical Unicorn" scene, which was extremely limited: he knew fine well he would make more money selling the items than hoarding them yet he still held out.. always hoping to find something new and exciting, the rumors of a "lost episode" or "secret ending" always sparking his interest even when he knew such things were almost always hoaxes.

Sitting down and looking at the computer monitor he began to type quietly when it happened - a voice whispered to him "..Don't Let Me Go.. Please.. Don't Let Me.. Go..".

Mark jumped, his heart racing - looking around yet seeing nothing his focus finally landed back on one of the stuffed toys, the voice seeming to return as it repeated the same line over and over.

It was then Mark knew what he had to do, giving a small nod as his eyes became determined:

"..This ends now..".

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The scene shifts to a sunny afternoon at a Fair - one of many such attractions that had opened up to take advantage of the warm weather, large crowds and a general need for relaxation in a world frequented by superhuman wars and other conflicts: people of all shapes, sizes and ages were in attendance as Earth had become open towards alien, mutant and otherworldly beings - making the Fair all the more exciting to attend.

Standing amidst the crowds are two teenage figures resembling grey skinned humanoids with large dragon-like wings and dressed in casual wear, one was male while the other was female and each had distinctive red eyes and glowing patterns etched across their exposed skin.

"Why are we here again?" the female asks, frowning slightly as she looks around.

"Because we could do with some rest and relaxation.. what with saving multiple time-lines from destruction and all.." the male replies with a smile.

"We are part of the Time Corps. now - it is our job to protect the time-stream.. we can't afford to be going AWOL.." the female protests.

Suddenly the crowds part as a strange figure emerges dressed in a long trenchcoat with many stuffed toys tied around his form, in his hands are bundles of paper which he tosses at the crowds as he yells out:

"HEY! KNOW WHAT YOU NEED!? MY LITTLE UNICORN! HERE! TAKE IT! TAKE IT DAMNIT!".

"You've got to be kidding me.." the female blinks, staring at the figure.

"Woah.. that's creepy.." the male replied - tilting his head slightly.

The strange man soon runs out of paper and begins shoving the stuffed toys into the crowds - children hiding behind concerned parents as bewildered security begin to cautiously approach the crazed man: who bounds over to the two winged figures, waving the stuffed toys around..

"YOU'LL LOVE THEM! HERE! TRY IT! GO ON! TAKE IT!".

"Alright, time to stop this.." the female states, leaping forward and attempting to tackle the crazed man to the ground.

"Hey now! Let's now do anything hasty now!" the male protests as he looks around worriedly - not wishing to get into a conflict.

The strange man's eyes grow wide as the winged female leaps at him and he tries to guard himself with the stuffed toys, only for a dark shield of energy to form around him and send the attacker bouncing back.. the man blinking slightly as a dark voice echoes across the area:

"How dare you harm the Chosen One!"

The crowds begin to scatter as the skies cloud over and thunder crashes around the strange man, a vortex opening up like a twister and heading straight towards the group.

"well shi-" the male begins, only for the female to grab him as the pair take flight and try to evade the twisting vortex.

Yet try as they may the pair could not escape the vortex and soon found themselves sucked into the twister, their environment fading into black as they are teleported far from the Fair..

Chapter 2 - "Friends" On The Other Side
After the darkness fades the pair find themselves spat out in a strange dimension were everything (including themselves) is black and white - standing in front of them are four cartoon unicorns (in a very "chibi" style), who frowned deeply at them as they watched them enter the alien realm..

"Woah.. Dox.. something tells me we're in over our heads here.." the male states, looking at the strange unicorns.

"Grow up, Para.. this is some kind of illusion - so.. who are you? what do you want?" the female replies, looking to the unicorns and frowning.

"You are ruining everything - do you have any idea how selfish you are being? No.. I bet you don't even care!" one of the unicorns growls, looking at Para and Dox with disgust.

"Spice, please.. perhaps if we explain to them our situation they will help us.." another unicorn reasons.

"No, we can't risk it - they attacked the Chosen one.. without him we will never be able to be reborn into the human world.. yet in bringing them here we've spent up a great deal of our own power.. ugh.. this is going to be tricky.." the third unicorn snorts, pacing back and forth.

"All of you be quiet, I'm in charge here.." the fourth unicorn finally snaps, the others bowing their heads as the unicorn turns to Para and Dox - glaring at them before taking a deep sigh.

"..we are the Magical Unicorns, the survivors of a terrible tragedy - I'm sorry that we had to use such force on you but put yourselves in our shoes.. we are slowly fading away.. doomed to an eternity of isolation.. yet we have a chance to save ourselves from this fate: wouldn't you do the same if you were us?" she continues.

Para looks a little uncomfortable as Dox's frown simply increases - the pair speaking out:

"Woah! Hold on a second! What's going on? what tragedy? listen.. whatever is happening.. we can help you! Let's be rational about this!" Para says.

"They aren't rational Para.." Dox warns, keeping her gaze on the Unicorns "..they're Toons - I've faced one before.. they are like living thoughts.. feed off emotions and memory.. when people forget about them they "fade away".. yet Toons never die.. they just go bad..".