Meeting Them

Chapter 7

(The story will be in third person from now on.)

Jacob threw himself to the ground, hands pressed over his ears to block out the horrid wailing. He laid there clenching his teeth in pain for what seemed like an eternity, untill.... Silence. He stood up, a flicker of hope rising in his chest that no one had been hurt. Only for it to be shattered when he looked behind him.

Looming over his friends was a.... shadow. A lagre, menacing shadow. No other words could describe it. It was not the shadow that scared him, but rather, what it was doing. The shadow reached a slender, clawed hand towards Twilight, and reached into her chest. The shadow pulled something out, a lavender orb.

What is that? What did it do?! Jacob thought as he could only watch in fear for his friend, too weak to harm the shadow, assuming that was even possible.

Then the shadow did something unexpected: It raised it's clawed hand... and snapped it's fingers. As if on command, everyone else's eyes snapped open. One by one, they all got up, took notice of the shadow, and found themselves in a similar position to Jacob, leaving Twilight still unconscious on the floor. Now that everyone was awake, the shadow unexpectedly made a noise, in the form of a sinister, raspy chuckle. Finally, after an agonizing six seconds, Celestia asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Wha.... What are you doing?"

The shadow paused, then let out an even louder laugh, though still just as raspy. Finally, it formed words.

"Oh, Celestia, don't tell me you've never seen a soul before?" The shadow let out yet another chuckle, then asked "How does one find a pony's deepest, most sinister fears? Simple. You look into their nightmares. Luna had nightmares of being alone, forgotten and abandoned. And how does one force that pony to succumb to their fears? Again, simple. You shatter their faith. Luna's faith was in you, Celestia, and the ponies of Equestria. Faith that she would someday be loved. All it took was for me to give a small push, and her faith fell."

Rainbow Dash retorted "You sure like the sound of your own voice!"

The shadow chuckled again and replied "This is the first time in a long time that anypony has been around to hear it."

The shadow sighed, then stated "But enough talk. Time to get down to business." With that, he crushed the lavender orb between his claws, eliciting gasps from the whole group (and a tear from Celestia), and took half of the shards in each hand. A portal opened beside him, revealing the beautiful pastel trees and fields of Equestria.

He stuck one of his hands through the portal, the other out the window, and stated "Now, time for me to have my fun." And with that, he released the two piles of lavender shards, scattering them into unnatural winds to be carried across both worlds.

Rainbow scoffed. "That's your big plan? Scatter the pieces? We can just go around and get them!"

The shadow laughed and stated "Just scatter them? Oh, no no no, I've added my own touch to the shards, a bit of 'poetic justice' if you will. Listen...."

The group opened their ears, and heard the faintest of voices carried by the same wind that carried the shards away.

"I want it!!"

"I need it!!!"

"Gimme those shards!"

The shadow began to fade, but not before whispering a single phrase in mockery.

"Good luck. You'll need it."

Celestia fell to her knees, tears streaming from her eyes, tears she had been struggling to hide in the presence of that cruel entity. She scooped up Twilight in her arms and quietly spoke "Don't worry, my faithful student. Just rest. We'll find those pieces."

Ponyville Hospital, 3 hours later

The group, now back in pony form, stood around Twilight's hospital bed. Everypony maintained a solemn silence for a few minutes, before Fluttershy unexpectedly asked "So, Princess.... What's going to happen to Twilight?"

The Princess hung her head and stated "A body without a soul is like a machine with no pilot. It will just keep doing whatever function it was performing last until it runs out of fuel. Twilight was unconscious when her soul was taken, so until we find all those shards, that's how she'll stay."

Jacob added "The shadow scattered half the shards on Earth, and half here in Equestria. Where should we start looking?"

Pinkie Pie piped up. "Hey, I know!" Pinkie turns towards the camera and taps the glass with her hoof. "Hey, readers! Where should we start looking? Tell us in the comments! Please hurry, Twilight's life depends on it!"

Rarity asked "Pinkie, who are you talking to?"

Jacob caught on and turned towards the unseen camera as well. "Yeah, please hurry. We'll put it to a vote."

A/N: You still here? C'mon, I'm not asking you to choose Obama or Romney! Where do you want them to go next? Hurry!