Dark-grey clouds loomed over the moon, which shone down onto one of the windows nearby. There was Twilight Sparkle, writing in the library of ponyville, her safe haven, with over one thousand book spines staring directly at her weary face. She was slouched over, head drooped forward, and ears pinned to the side of her neck. Her hair was frayed, strand by strand, which showed she was a little stressed over the parchment laying in front of her.
With her mouth opened wide, Twilight raised her head, and eyed down the sturdy grandfather clock, which was made out of mahogany, in the corner of her bedroom. She stared at the clock intently for a second, and then her eyes sunk under her snout when she came to the realization that it was extremely close to midnight.
“Ahhh...” she sighed. “If only there was a way I could finish Princess Celestia’s letter before tomorrow morning arrives.”
The room had the same hue of the night sky, dark and gloomy, except for the candle placed on its holder, next to her purple quill. It gave off a bright glow from the corner of the desk, casting a shadow upon the letter that was half written.
As Twilight thought about what she was going to write, her forelegs became limp, and her eyelids gently sagged downward more and more.
“Maybe if I just close my eyes for just a second...” said Twilight, slurring her words.
Her mind drew a blank, and she began to wander off in her thoughts. Each thought made her zone farther out of consciousness, until she finally realized it. As soon as she did, she jolted upward, and forcibly opened her drowsy eyes.
“I need to go get something to drink—maybe that will help me focus more,” said Twilight, while emerging from the flat pillow she sat on.
Her hind legs arched upward, and she dragged herself past Spike, who laid there motionless curled up in a little ball around his bed sheets. She paced down the first flight of steps, trying to keep her mind off Celestia’s letter. The clangor of hoofs reverberated through the library. When she took her last step, she flicked the light switch on, and the room bloomed with brilliance. It illuminated every inch of downstairs, leaving no room from darkness to show. Twilight cringed, swerved her head to her side, and raised her foreleg toward her face.
After her eyes adjusted, she swung her head back forward, and scanned the quiet room for anything to drink. She spotted halfway across the room a water pitcher along with a glass cup on top of some levitation tomes, that she had read earlier.
Twilight trudged her way towards the much needed water pitcher, still exhausted as ever. But she stopped. There was something unusual. She tilted her head to the left, and cocked her ear upward listening sharply. She straightened herself, staying alert. Her eyes examined the room steadily, hoping to find something. A high pitched sound flew through the room again, except this time more resonate. She swiveled her head quickly right, and there is what caught her eye.
In the petite circular window next to the front door, was a yellow pegasus pony hovering, eyeing Twilight down. She knocked on the window glass once more, whispering “Twilight...”. Twilight advanced to the window hesitantly, trying to make out who this was. But she relaxed herself after she saw it was just Fluttershy making a bizarre visit to her in the dead of night. She greeted Fluttershy with a lackluster smile.
“Hey, Fluttershy. Why are you here so late at night?” said Twilight.
“Twilight, I really need your help... I mean... that is... if you’re fine with it!” said Fluttershy gasping.
“Fluttershy, calm down. Tell me what’s wrong,” said Twilight.
Fluttershy started, “Oh it’s terrible! Angel got up in the middle of the night, and sprinted out the front door of the house! I tried to stop him, but he just wouldn’t listen! He went straight into the Everfree Forest, so I followed him, but he ended up running straight into a dark cave. I flew back to ponyville, and saw the library all lit up, so I thought I’d come here to see if you could help me.”
"Can't this wait till tomorrow," said Twilight drowsily. "I mean Angel is probably fine—" Fluttershy burst out into tears.
"But he isn't cut out for the forest life! He's lived with me ever since his was a little bunny!" Cried Fluttershy.
"Ok, ok we'll go looking for the cave you said he went through. Maybe we could also find out what made run away like that." said Twilight, with compassion in her voice.
"Oh... thank you so much, Twilight," she said wiping the tears off her red, blush face. "He means so much to me."
Twilight walked to the front door, making sure lock it, and met up with Fluttershy outside her window.
"Lead the way," said Twilight.
They continued through the desolate town. The pitter-patter of their hooves was the only thing that could be heard through the night. The both of them didn't say a word to each other—only allowing their benevolence for the the pet bunny guide them. They sprinted past Sugar Cube Corner, which was shut down like all the other shops in the area, until they reached Fluttershy's house.
Fluttershy gave Twilight a swift glance, and nodded to indicate that they should head right, into the Everfree Forest. Twilight eyed the forest, and let out big sigh. Not because she didn’t care for her best friend's problem, no. She just was still quite burnt out from the work she had to finish. She paused a quick second in her head, and remembered she has still yet to finish Celestia's letter.
"Hold on, Fluttershy!" she said.
Fluttershy halted, and turned her head back, looking at Twilight with her noble, innocent eyes. Twilight took a second to think. If she went back to finish her letter, she would be letting down one of her kindest friends in ponyville. But whether or not she assisted Fluttershy was irrelevant because she would still have a disappointed friend. The choice was either Celestia or Fluttershy.
She took a deep breath in, then out, and reminded herself that there was no need to stress over Celestia’s letter. She and Celestia both knew what happen the last time she gave herself this problem, and she was determined to not make the same mistake again. Plus, Fluttershy would be absolutely devastated if she just left like that, and she couldn’t bear do such a thing to her.
"What is it?" asked Fluttershy.
"Never mind... ehh... I wanted to tell you that I saw a beautiful dragonfly pass by while we were running..." stuttered Twilight.
“Aww...that’s cute, thank you, Twilight” said Fluttershy with a smile on her face.
They carried forward, finally reaching the nightmarish forest, which still ran chills down Twilight’s spine to that day. Twilight understood that there were many obscure and undefined creatures lurking around every square inch each of this forest, but she was confident that she could handle anything that came her way with a simple spell. If they were to get in a nasty brawl with any of them, it sure would not be problem for her to fix.
Trying not to think about too much about the wild creatures, she galloped along with Fluttershy. Fluttershy spread her wings out into the direction of the sky, and began fluttering them gracefully, lifting her body gradually off the mud covered ground. She swooped around the languid trees with no effort whatsoever. She made sure to take a look back every so often to check on Twilight, after all she was only a unicorn.
They passed Zecora's hut, which was decorated with hoof carved tikis, and a plethora of multi-colored potions hanging from the tree branches above. She took an anxious breath, and turned her head back the way they running, thinking to herself that she’s never gone very far past Zecora's home before. But she still reassured herself that everything was going to be fine.
The territory had gradually shifted into to an even more creepier scene than before. The trees had little to no leaves on them, the mist overwhelmed most the air around them, and the darkness confined their actions only to what they could see in front of them.
"Uhh... are you sure you know where you're going, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight hesitantly.
"Errr... I remember the cave being somewhere in this direction..." replied Fluttershy worriedly.
Fluttershy paused, and observed the area around them. While she did, somewhere in the darkness they heard a deep, profound growl. Twilight held her stance, and Fluttershy made her way right next to her. Fluttershy's head went down in despair, and she began whimpering at Twilight's hooves apologizing dearly.
"I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to get us lost like this!" said Fluttershy frantically.
Twilight pulled her up, and put her hoof around her mane. Consoling her, Twilight said, "Look, we're not lost. Zecora's hut is back down the trail. If there's any problem we could hurry back the way we came, and ask if we could stay there for the night."
"Wha... what about that noise we just heard?" asked Fluttershy.
"Well, I'm not sure, but it was probably the wind. It has stopped, so we should be ok now," said Twilight.
Just a second later the growl moaned another time. The very thing that Twilight didn't want to happen.
"Eeeekkkk!!" squealed Fluttershy.
"I think we should get moving back to Zecora's," said Twilight.
The leaves rustled around viciously. They could hear the quick snaps of hooves circling around them. They flicked their heads back, then forward, trying to keep an eye on whatever was stalking them. Then, out of the darkness, a peach stubby face protruded itself out. The two of them went silent as the creature stomped its way to them with a steady pace. Twilight immediately recognized it as soon as it peeked out from the darkness.
It was a centaur.
And from what she had read it about them, they could end anypony’s life with the stomp of a hoof. They have an aggressive nature about them, and she remembers seeing this beast as a stenciled drawing in the “Hidden Creatures: Anatomy” book she picked up a while ago.
It had hoofs, a tail, and walked on four legs like a normal pony. But this one was different. Beyond different, abnormal in fact. From its lower body, there was a torso that stuck out . It looked as strong as a full grown griffin. It had a fine carved body, and it was tinted in an apricot color, reaching all the way to the top of his horned head. It had a deathly stare that pierced through Twilight and Fluttershy like hot knife through butter. It had a dirt ridden face along with drawn out arms, and bushy, pointed eyebrows. Its frame stood two times higher than both Twilight and Fluttershy combined.
"Fluttershy..." whispered Twilight.
"What?" answered Fluttershy.
"Please, you need to fly out of here now," said Twilight desperately.
"But, Twilight... I can't jus—" Twilight lifted her hoof to Fluttershy's snout, hushing her.
"Trust me! Quick go!" exclaimed Twilight, as she nudged her away.
Fluttershy flew away as instructed, but gave a quick looksee to Twilight. Twilight nodded her head in approval, and she continued to fly away. She then adjusted her head back to the stalwart creature. The centaur approached her, filled with the devilish desire to capture and possibly kill Twilight. She stood there trying to formulate a plan. The anguish in her stomach told her to run for her life, but her mind told her that she could take it on. She was one of Equestria’s best magic users.
Twilight's horn began to glow violet as she spread her legs out to get into stance. She closed her eyes, and out shot a ball of purple energy at the ground next to the centaur, surrounding it in a force field. She wanted to keep the monster anchored there, while she further investigated Angel’s disappearance. It looked around in confusion, but continued its path, eyeing down Twilight. The centaur passed right through the purple barrier with ease, breaking it, and letting out a nasty grunt.
Twilight, while taking a couple of steps back, spotted a large, bulky tree branch hanging directly above the creature’s head. She didn’t want to harm the centaur. It just wasn’t in her nature to use her magic aggressively. She instinctively shot at it’s roots, making it fall. But the monster charged at her before the branch even reached halfway to the ground. It was like a steadfast train making its route to the next station, not stopping for anyone or anything.
Her heart pounded rigorously in her chest. She could feel the adrenaline pump throughout her body. Its arms were out in front of itself ready to grab Twilight by force.
Twilight quickly rebounded to the left, seemingly unchanged, but then she raised her hoof to her round face. There she felt the cold blood dripping down her cheek, and the wind brushing steadily against it making it sting for a minor moment. She desperately jolted in a random direction, trying to escape the creature’s line of sight, while it was regaining its sense of direction.
Twilight scurried as fast as she could. Her mane blew in the wind, and still only being able to see what was about ten feet in front of her. She swung around the drained, mundane trees blocking her path. She wanted to find a place to hide, and to distract the centaur. Then soon after, trace down Angel’s cave, before she’d leave the forest for good.
She arrived at an aged, broken down tree, that's roots were braided upward, and forking off into a nicely arranged pattern. Twilight quickly bustled around it, and resting her flank on the chill ground next to it. She took a deep breathe in, and readied herself to teleport if things get out of hand. Hoping she won’t have to, she kept herself as silent as possible to hear if anything was still out there.
Everything was at peace, except for a faint sound that came from behind her. She had sweat flowing down her cheeks, which were smeared with mud from running out of the creature’s way. She retained her breathe, and raised her ear outward. The hoof sounds became more emphatic the more she listened. Twilight swallowed the bit of saliva in her mouth with caution. Everything went silent again. No more hoof steps. No more sound. No more nothing.
It was still quiet as could be, but before Twilight could respond to what she thought was an indication that the coast was clear, she sensed something. There was a brisk aroma that drifted past her nostrils. This was like nothing she has ever smelled before. She looked around, and the scene became puzzling, everything looked like a big stain of colors in a painting. She began to sway her head side to side, becoming so delirious to the point that she lost all limb control. Before she knew it, she collapsed to the ground, and laid there on her side in the damp mud, drenched in dripping sweat.
