Written by Penelope Siegel and Valerie Lyons

Peggy’s heart thumped. The scent of pig filled her nose as a dark looming shadow tended to the fire. 

Peggy gulped. “This would be it, I am finally going to die,” she thought, as she sat on the floor with her legs crossed. 

Her captor made sure that there was tons of food for her to eat, because of course she wanted her to be plump and fattened for when she was supposedly destined to be eaten. 

“Almost ready!” the shadowy figure said in a sweet little girl's voice. “I’m sorry for the wait. I know you can’t wait to be cooked~!” she added in a disgustingly doll-like tone, “But you understand, don't you, that Peppa likes her bacon served just right?” 

The figure then turned so that Peggy could look them in the eye. 

“Oh yes,” Peggy said sarcastically, “I love being made into bacon, and it is not creepy at all that you just referred to yourself in the third person!” 

Peppa frowned, raising the club she was holding in the air. The next thing Peggy knew, everything went black. 

Chapter One: Peggy

Every day, Peggy would walk to school with her best friends, Elmo and Dora. Dora was a short, stout girl with dark brown hair that never shifted from its bowl-like shape. Every day, Dora would go and teach Spanish to the kindergarteners. Elmo was a red haired kid that loved to talk and make up cringy songs about his friends, and then sing them so loud that not a single kid at school didn't have one of his songs devoted to their memory by now.

“Have you seen that new Peppa Pig show yet?” Dora asked in a tone that confused Peggy. She sounded almost scared. Elmo shot her a look that etched ‘shut up’ on his features. A low, rough chuckle erupts from his throat. 

“Why were you watching Peppa Pig?” he laughed. “Come on Dora, loosen up, it's Friday!” 

Dora wrinkled her nose at Elmo. “Whatever. I was just asking!” Dora scoffed. 

“Hey, guys,” I interrupted, “Save the arguing for Monday. Right now I just want to get through Friday.” 

The rest of the way, we walked in silence. 

Finally, we get to school. I wave goodbye to Dora since she’s in a different class. I want to say something to Elmo, but the tension from the walk to school has not gone yet so I keep my mouth shut. Our footsteps echo through the hallway. I open the door to our first class of the day: English. 

Immediately we are greeted with a:“Hello, sit down, sit down!” Ms. Pork says, “class is just about to start!” 

We nod in unison. Elmo shoots me a quick why is she so happy today? look and then sits down. 

The rest of the day was a blur. I remember Ms. Pork scolding me for dozing off in class again, and Elmo singing a song to the class in Math. But, after that, it’s all kinda blank. I guess that just means that the day was extra boring than usual. I walked home by myself, not wanting to re-enter the strange conversation between Elmo and Dora. 

Suddenly, there was a screeching sound behind me. I turned around, afraid for what it might be, and there, pulling up to the curb, was a yellow bus, one that takes school children home. But what was strange about it was that there were no kids riding in it. You might have thought that this was not strange, but I had only barely started the walk home. There was no way that the school bus had already dropped off all the kids on it. 

The bus halted in front of me. A shadowy figure stepped out of the bus. As they came more and more out of the shadows, I could see a pink, wet nose. Wait, not a nose--a snout! One that belonged to a pig. More and more features revealed themselves. A hoof, pink ears, a curly tail. And the worst thing of all was that the thing that was clearly a pig, had two human feet where its bottom hooves should have been. 

I stifled a scream. “What, What are you?!” I yelled at the thing, trying to sound intimidating. 

The creature smiled and then said, “I am Peppa Pig.” Then she raised the thing in her hand, which Peggy now realized was a club and everything went black. 

Chapter 2:

As soon as I awoke in a dark room, I grabbed around for something that could tell me where I was. When my vision cleared, I could see that I was in a giant room with a white floor and white walls and ceilings. The next thing I knew was that Peppa Pig was leaning in the doorway, staring ominously down at me. 

“Who-who are you?” I said with a sinking sense that I already knew who she was. Then, in a shaky voice I said, “You’re Peppa Pig, aren't you?” 

Peppa smiled. “Peppa’s hungry, breakfast time.” 

My eyes widened. “YOU WANT TO MAKE ME INTO-INTO YOUR BREAKFAST!!!!!!!” I screamed like a man. 

But Peppa still smiled. “A pig's got to eat, doesn't she?” Peppa said crookedly. 

“Hmmm,” she said in her thinking voice. “What will I make you into?” Peppa wondered aloud, “Burger? Ham? Oh wait I know! BACON!!!” 

I screamed again! I am too young to die. My heart thumped as I realized that I would have to trick this psychopath into letting me go or it would be too late! 

Over at the kitchen section, Peppa was setting up the stove for her meal. All of a sudden, there was a bang at the door. Elmo and Dora burst into the room. Except, they looked more cartoonish. They flickered the same way Peppa did. As if they were also something out of the T.V., I thought to myself. 

“What in tarnation was happening!” 

Elmo danced on, shimmying around Peppa and singing, “F-I-G-H-T spells Fight!”  

Dora dashed towards me as she looked back at Elmo with puppy dogs eyes. 

When had that happened? I shook my head. I needed to get free, I needed to get help. I started struggling again. 

Dora reached me, “Sit still!” she said impatiently. “Don’t you want to get out of there?” 

I grunted but held still. Over at the kitchen, Elmo was on the floor, blood trickling from his nose. He scowled in our direction. “Well? Are you going to get over here and help?” 

That shook Dora and I out of our shock. We rushed over. Dora pulled Elmo up while I faced Peppa. 

“Ohhh, come now,” Peppa cooed, “All I want is, a snack?” Peppa sounded confused, like even she didn’t really want Peggy Soufflé. But the confusion quickly melted into rage. 

“Vengeance for Elmo!” Dora screamed, “Stay away from my pookie!” 

Elmo jumped up from the floor, dazed. He was not looking where he was going and crashed into the oven. 

“ELMO NOOOOOOO!!!!!” Dora screamed. 

“Oh no,” I scowled. 

"Peppa you messed with the wrong baddie!” I taunted. 

Elmo screamed in the corner. “Omg somebody help me!!!!!” He screamed, running around in a circle, “My pants are on firrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!” 

Dora stopped fighting Peppa and looked at Elmo, her eyes widening in terror. This allowed Peppa to swing her bat and launch Dora across the room into a  wall. Her head hit the wall and she slumped forward, unconscious. 

I glared at Peppa. “You're definitely going down now sister!” 

Peppa swung her bat at me screeching wildly. 

Elmo, still in a daze, started singing, “🎵Somebody once told me the world was macaroni so I took a bite out of a treeeeee, it tasted kinda funny so I spat it at a bunny, the bunny started cursing at meeeeeee, a thousand years later the bunnnnnyyyy was Darth Vader and he threw his lightsaber at meeeeeee, It missed me by a meter, then hit Justin Bieber and now I need a new pair of undieeeeeeeesss 🎵🎵”

As he finished the song, Peppa started biting trees uncontrollably and then Peggy realized with a shudder  that any second now she would start spitting things at us. 

“DUCKKKKK!!” I screamed. 

“ElMO, DID THAT SONG HAVE MAGIC IN IT!!” I yelled at him. 

“YES,” he yelled back, “IT MAKES THE LISTENER DO WHAT THE SONG SAYS!” He screamed back. 

“WELL IT'S NOT REALLY HELPING, SHE JUST GOT A NEW WEAPON!!” I yelled, scolding him. 

He looked down at his feet. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “But at least I can DO magic,” he said, looking proud. 

I rolled my eyes. Right now was not the time to fight. “Just go help Dora, she needs the help,” I said, trying to be a leader. 

Elmo nodded, but as he did he murmured, “You're not always the main character.” 

I chose to ignore him. 

Peppa shook her head. She had stopped spitting things by now and was returning to her senses. I took this as an opportunity and lunged at Peppa, clamping my hands around her meaty neck. Peppa squirmed, waving her bat widely. One of the strikes hit me on the nose but I held tight, my nose throbbing. I could sense Peppa slowing, she was pacing out. 

In one final, raspy breath Peppa said, “You’ll regret this!” and promptly passed out. 

Chapter 3: Swiper No Swiping

“Is she dead?” Dora asked, now awake again.

“No,” I said, concerned. “She’s still breathing.” 

“Should we kill her while she’s sleeping?” Elmo asked, getting to the point.

“Peggy,” Dora said, “Don’t you know what this means? Now that Peppa is evil, it means that you have to take her place; you have to become the new Peppa Pig... Peggy Pig.” She said it with so much certainty it scared me. 

“What?! No, I could never. I’m a human! Not- not whatever you are!” 

“Wow, thanks,” Elmo grumbled, “stick to the cartoons, it’s always the cartoons.” 

“You know what I meant,” I said, rolling my eyes for the second time that day. Just then, something shiny caught my eye. It looked like an air tag for cows. “What the…” 

I reached down and touched the tag. It was blank. I then turned it over and, there, inscribed in white lettering were the words, Swiper Enterprises. I read the name out loud so everyone could hear. As soon as Dora heard, her face went pale. 

“It can be,” she muttered. “This is too far, even for him.” 

Elmo looked grimly on. “Dora, who else could it be? I'm sorry, but you have to face him again.” 

I looked at them confused, still was not used to all this cartoon business. “What? Who can’t it be?” I asked.

“Peggy, think: who is Dora’s worst enemy?” Elmo asked. 

“Ohhhhh,” I said, understanding present on my face. “Swiper, No Swiping,” I said, understanding now why Dora was so frightened. I was about to help comfort her when I spotted a door on the back wall that I was sure had not been there when I first got here. 

“Hey, what’s that?” I said, pointing at the door. Elmo and Dora both turned looking in the direction I was pointing. 

Dora sighed, “I guess it really doesn’t matter, right? We'll have to go through it anyway, right?” 

I smiled sympathetically, knowing that Dora was just saying that because she was nervous. “Come on,” I said, waving my hand and walking forward, “Let's get it over with.” 

The door creaked, its metal hinges clicking as it creaked open. Elmo gulped, clearly nervous. “Hey, man, you know Peggy, why don’t you go first?” Elmo smiled sweaty, like he was just trying to be a gentleman. 

I smiled cheekily at Elmo and stepped into the darkness of the room. As soon as we entered the room, lights flickered on like we were in a game show. 

I squinted, blinking the lights out of my eyes. The room looked just like the room before. Blank white walls, except it did not have a kitchen. Instead, it had a rectangular box connected to the far wall and the ceiling. Inside the rectangle was the dark form of a fox standing up. 

Suddenly, with a shudder, I realized that the form was Swiper. I pointed towards the box. “Look, that’s the target right?” My eyes never left the box, determined not to show fear. 

Dora nodded grimly.“That’s him, the one and only,” she said bitterly. “Come on, let's go do this.” 

Just then, a voice sounded from the box. “Dora, we meet again,” said the sour voice of Swiper. “You have beaten me too many times, this time you will pay, this time you will fall!” 

He said this so bitterly, I wished I’d watched more of “Dora The Explorer” as a kid. 

The figure jumped down from the box. Swiper had orange fur with a yellow belly. He wore blue gloves and a blue bandit mask. The tip of his tail, along with his snout, was also colored yellow. Swiper lunged towards us. 

I thought it was over but, instead, grabbing toward us, he lunged at the bright purple backpack next to Dora. 

“Back Pack, NOOOOOO!!” Dora screamed. She stared at Swiper murderously. All fear from before was gone. 

“SWIPER NO SWIPING!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. 

Swiper twitched and hesitated slightly, like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to steal again. But then, he twitched his head and lunged again for a second strike. 

Dora yelled again, “SWIPER NO SWIPING!” Sweat trickled down her face and I could tell that she was getting tired. Still, she went on. 

“SWIPER NO SWIPING!” Dora repeated. Swiper would steal, and so on. Finally, when Dora looked like she was about to collapse, she did something nobody expected. 

“C'mon guys!” Dora called to us, “Say it with me!” 

Elmo nodded, smiling wickedly. Not a moment too soon, I realized what she wanted us to do. Dora held up a hand singling for us to wait. As soon as swiper came in for another stick, she yelled.

“NOW!” 

“SWIPER NOOOOO SWIPING!!!!” We all screamed at the top of our lungs. 

Then, with a sickening “squamp!”, I blacked out. 

When I  awoke, there was a ringing in my ears. In the center of the room was a blacked spot, and orange ashes littered the room. With a sickening lurch, I realized what must have happened. Swiper had exploded. 

I remembered my friends. My eyes grew wide. I would never forgive myself if one of them had died. I searched the room. Elmo was starting to sit up, groggily. I sighed in relief, then I remembered Dora. I searched again. Then I spotted a crumpled mass in the far back wall. I ran over, forgetting my pain.

I stared down at the broken body of Dora. “No…” I whispered. Then, louder I yelled, “NO!” 

I shook the body, begging it to wake up. Nothing happened, Elmo stumbled over. He saw the body, his eyes grew wide. “What, what happened?" He said, his eyes still wide. 

“We can still save her,” my voice broke, “She’s not dead, she’s not...” 

Elmo looked down at the floor. He didn’t need to say what he was thinking. I already new. I looked down again at my best friend. A single tear fell down my cheek. It dropped onto Dora’s nose. I looked away, not wanting to show weakness. 

After a long minute, Elmo gasped. He bent down and put a finger under Dora’s nose. I looked up, holding back tears. When nothing happened, I sighed. 

I was about to look away when Dora's chest rose and fell. Even if it was only for a quick second, it was unmistakable; Dora had breathed. I gasped, tears running down my face freely now. I shook Dora violently, searching for a sign. Then, Dora’s eyes fluttered open. She gasped, sucking in air. Elmo and I tackled her with a hug. 

“Crushing me,” Dora groaned.  

“Just happy you're alive," I smiled.

“Ya, well, me too.”  Dora said, winking. Elmo reached down, offering his hand. Dora took it gratefully, pulling herself up. 

“Thanks,” she said, trying for a smile. 

I looked around. “Well, what do we do now? Just go home? Our parents will be wondering…” 

“Orrrrrrr,” Elmo said cheekily, “Party at my place?” 

I grinned at Dora and she smiled back. 

Together we said, “PARTY TIME!!!”