Coming of a silent storm.
Twilight narrowed her eyes at the short, erect stick a couple meters away from her, a few horseshoes just idly laying around it shining in the light of Celestias' sun. She looked down at her own metal shoe on her hoof and waved her hoof around, weighing the piece of metal and figuring out how to toss it correctly.
“Oh for goodness sake, just toss the thing already!” her colorful Pegasus friend called out in annoyance, causing the young Princess of Friendship to jump a little.
Twilight glared back at Rainbow, “Just be patient, Rainbow.” She went right back at concentrating on the stake, making a stance as she did with the tip of her tongue poking out to the side of her mouth.
“It’s been five whole minutes, Twi. My patient meter ran out of juice way before that.” Rainbow Dash flopped down onto her rump with a huff, “Just make the toss already.” She whined.
Twilight rolled her eyes and looked dead straight at the mocking stick. With a light swing of her hoof, the metal shoe flew through the air, making flips as it did like a beautiful metal ballerina, its polished surface shined in the afternoon sun. Twilight’s brain desperately tried to calculate the trajectory and velocity of the horseshoe, but the thought of losing the game blinded her master level of thinking. She whispered quick silent prayers as the shining shoe flipped through the air, heading straight for the stake, hoping to herself it won’t bounce off this time around.
By sheer luck, her prayers were answered as the horseshoe hooked itself onto the stick and spun around quite fast before it touched down on the grassy ground with a light thump.
“Yes!” Twilight cheered and started prancing around her slack-jawed friend while chanting, “I Wiiin! I Wiiin! I Wiiin!”
With a shake of her head, Rainbow snorted and gently frowned to the side, “Oh, Horse-apples.” She mumbled to herself.
“Why so down, RD?” Applejack strolled on over to both mares with a little chuckle, a forest of carefully placed Apple trees right in her wake. “Yah just need to answer a few of Twi’s questions.” She suddenly laughed at Rainbows frown deepening as Twilight danced away from the two, shaking around her rump like there was no tomorrow with a dopey expression.
“Oh, you know why exactly I’m upset, AJ.” Rainbow glared at her giggling farm pony friend, “Firstly, I lost! I hate losing! And secondly, it’s Twilight we’re talking about here! She might never stop asking questions about Pegasi autonomy and other things I don’t know! For all we know, she might do some tests on me if I don’t answer!” she threw out her hooves to the air and roared in frustration.
Twilight giggled on over to her two friends, “Lighten up, Rainbow, and it’s Pegasi ‘Anatomy’. I don’t have that many questions, just a few things about Pegasi physic and how their body functions during stress. Does that sound so bad?” she sat down beside her friends while ruffling her feathers of her wings.
“Uh… how many questions are we talking about?” Rainbow replied a little hesitantly and stared at her friend.
“Six hundred eighty two, give or take a few.” Twilight waved her hoof nonchalantly with a small smile.
Rainbow shrank down and whimpered like their shy friend Fluttershy when she’s scared with shrunken pupils. “S-six… H-h-hundred…?”
“At least that, yes.” Twilight lightly nodded with a thoughtful expression as a small smile was plastered onto her face with all the new information she would be collecting that her books couldn’t supply her hungry mind.
With another round of laughter and Rainbow groaning on the grassy ground, both Twilight and Applejack suddenly stopped laughing once they heard something rushing through the calm forest of White Tail. The three lone mares looked to the White Tail Woods, eyes slightly wide from fear. But once they saw a figure of a pony struggling through the dim forest while gasping for breath, all three ponies quickly stood up to their hooves as the young mare stumbled out the forest and collapsed on the ground with a thump like a bag of Potatoes being dumped on the ground.
Twilight led her small group into a gallop towards the mystery mare. Once they got close to the gasping mare, they recoiled at the Amber skinny mare; her hooves were thin to the bone, her ribs showed, her spine dented her back and her facial bone structures stood out more than her cheeks and eyelids. The mare’s lips were cracked and dry, her red and brown mane and tail were messy and unkempt with leaves and sticks poking out and her body was covered with small cuts and bruises.
Twilight looked at Applejack, “Applejack, can you carry her on your back?” she quickly asked. AJ nodded and Rainbow helped her to get the unconscious mare on her back. Twilight spread her wings and draped them over her friends as well as the newcomer, “This might feel a little weird.” She warned before her horn lit up and with a flash of light they were now in front of Ponyville Hospital.
With a light shake of their heads to get rid of the spinning sensation they rushed in the building, but then Twilight heard the unconscious mare mumbling.
“Don’t… Look… Don’t… Look… Don’t…” while she continued mumbling, Applejack and Rainbow Dash informed the nurse behind the counter about the bony mare. She continued to chant those words as the nurses quickly went to work to get the mare in stable condition.
o~~O~~o
Hours later in the waiting room, Twilight and her friends were informed by Nurse Redheart the mystery mare will make it and just needed to rest to regain her strength.
“She’s lucky you three found her, Princess Twilight. From what we saw in the mare, she was on her last hoof. But with plenty of sleep and rest, she’ll be fine within a few days.” The nurse said.
The three friends sighed in relief, letting out the breaths they never knew were holding.
“Good to know she’ll be okay.” Twilight said and composed herself, “Will she be awake anytime soon?” she asked.
“Probably by tomorrow morning, Princess Twilight.” Twilight mentally flinched but held her expression, “Are you thinking of visiting her?” said the nurse.
“Yes. I want to know how and why she was in the White Tail Woods in such condition. Is that okay?” she asked.
“For a couple of hours, yes, but no more than that, Princess. She needs her rest.” Redheart answered with a little bow of her head.
“Of course, I understand. I’ll see you in the morning.” Twilight answered and motioned her head to her friends to ‘get going’ with a small smile.
Once they were out, the sun was starting to set under the distant mountains, painting the land and clouds in yellows, oranges and reds like the trees of autumn.
Applejack turned to her friends, “Ah’m heading back tah mah barn, now. Yah comin’ along, RD?” she asked.
“Eh, why not.” Rainbow shrugged.
“Okay. I’ll see you both around.” Twilight said and started going down a path to get to her castle home. “Goodnight, you two!” she yelled back.
“Night!” both mares yelled back in unison with a wave as they started their own way home.
Twilight silently strode through the quiet streets, greeting a few fellow ponies that still lingered around in the hour. She stopped herself on a small bridge and looked up at the evening sky in thought.
“Don’t look…” she whispered to herself and searched the clouds to try and find any answers in them. The thought of a young mare suddenly coming out of the forest in a bony state disturbed her greatly, and thought of why the mare, a few years younger than herself, would be in the forest in the first place. Was she scared of something that would cause her to flee into the forest seeking for safe haven? Most likely, but what is she scared of? There are plenty of things to be fearful for; Manticores, Hydras, Cockatrice, Basilisk, Dragons and so on. But why the forest of all places and not a town where there’s safety in numbers? The forest is where you find most of these dangerous creatures in the first place. Maybe a rogue pony? That would explain why she would flee into the forest to hide. But her mind keeps going back to what the mare said in her unconscious state.
“Don’t look.”
The phrase itself led her to think of a Cockatrice or a Basilisk, which use their gaze to either turn their prey to stone or petrify them. But the same thing keeps coming up that they live in their natural habitat, the forest, the worst place to be in on the wrong place and the time if those are to show up.
With a shake of her head, Twilight continued to trot to her home as the crystalline castle was in sight. She’ll get her answers tomorrow morning when the mystery mare wakes.
She reaches the steps to her new home and nodded to her guards, both stallions nodding back, they lit their horns and opened the doors for her. She casually trots into her sparkly clean home and started briskly going to her new public library to read. Going up the steps and greeting a few castle maids in the halls of her library, she opened the door to her study room at the far end of her library and smiled at the small green baby dragon snoozing away in his still intact basket near her desk.
“Hoo!”
Twilight jumps at the sudden sound and looked up to one of her bookshelf to see Owlicious staring down at her.
She smiles at her night companion as she quietly trotted on over to her desk, “Good evening, Owlicious.” She greeted and sat down onto her chair.
“Hoo!” he replied.
She nodded at him with a small smile and looked out her window placed right in front of her work desk and watched the last bit of her old mentor’s sun ever so slowly set behind the mountains.
The sight before her sent her back to her past as a small filly playing with her Smarty Pants doll in Celestia’s Royal garden. Her doll was set on her back as she galloped around the open ground giggling and laughing merrily. She trips over with a yelp and rolled around with little grunts. She flopped down with a thump and groaned as parts of her body felt light aching pain.
“Oh dear, Twilight, are you okay?” Princess Celestia briskly trotted on over to her young student lying on the grassy ground. Twilight sits herself up and rubbed her head as her mind spun like a boomerang. Celestia leaned her head down to the young filly and gently nuzzled the back of Twilight’s head, slowly melting away the headache from Twilight’s mind. The young filly smiled and giggled at Celestia’s affection, turned her head around and nuzzled her teacher back on her muzzle. Celestia made a throaty giggle and rested down right behind her young student and leaned in, “Are you okay, Twilight?” she whispered.
Twilight nodded with a happy smile and with a perk of her ears, she started frantically looking around and with a gasp, she stumbled up to her hooves and galloped over to her Smarty Pants doll just laying on the ground and once she picked it up with her short hooves, she gasped once more as the doll’s left button eye hung loosely on one thread.
“Smarty Pants! No!” she cried out and hugged her doll desperately.
“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Celestia asked as she reached her sniffling student.
Twilight sniffled, “Smarty Pants is hurt.” She showed the doll to her teacher with teary eyes and quivering lips.
“Oh dear.” Celestia said and looked a little closer at the doll with squinting eyes. With a smile she looked back at Twilight, “We can make Smarty Pants a lot better, Twilight.” She stood up to her hooves and helps the filly up and gently placed the doll on Twilight’s back as well. She lightly nudged her head for her young student as Twilight wiped her tears away with a few sniffles, “Come along, Twilight. Let’s go back in to fix him right up.” She chirped happily, making Twilight bring back her smile and started scurrying after her teacher.
With a giggle Twilight breathed in and out at the happy past and looked out the window once more to see Luna’s Moon and stars were now out on display to all of Equestria to observe. She hops out of her chair while still looking out the window, but then look up at Owlicious.
“Wanna join me?” she asked as she started trotting on over to her glass doors to her balcony. With a ‘hoot’ Owlicious flapped his wings and flew down over to his owner and perched himself onto her back.
Twilight opened up the double glass doors and trotted out onto her balcony and took a deep breath of the cool night air. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and looked up at the lit night sky and started silently naming Luna’s constellations.
Just as she would finish naming the last few images of star art, a sudden gust of ice cold wind struck her head on. She gasped with eyes wide from shock and took a few shaky steps back to try and calm herself down, but when she took her second gasp of air, all of the candles in her study were out, darkening the whole area around her with an eerie silence.
Once she calmed herself from the sudden cold and brought back her petrified hooves to the land of the living, she turned around to get back in to relit the candles and lamps and bundle up her shivering assistant Spike to keep him warm. But she was stopped in her tracks by what sounded like a distant faint howl of a creature.
She slowly turned to the moonlit land and moved closer to the ledge to get a better look at the dark forest. A moment later, there was another slightly more louder howl of a wolf or a dog, but this howl sounded more like a blood curdling cry mixed with a two toned demonic voice, sending ice cold chills down her spin and running her blood cold.
Something about that howl was wrong, very wrong. It sounded like a wolf or a Timber Wolf, but the howl carried a sense of even more danger and fear then what a regular howl would sound. This was no regular howl of a common canine roaming the forest; it was the most demonic sound of a dying animal she ever heard in her life and she heard many chilling howls and screeches throughout her life in Ponyville.
She gulped with some sweat going down her brow and started thinking of just going in to try and forget about the chilling howl with the shaking Owl clinging close to her back. But just as she was backing up, a light from the ground caught her attention. She looked down from the ledge and saw one of her guards patrolling the grounds with a lit horn. Just as she was looking up to just go in, she saw a strange shadowy figure just in the tree line facing her castle or possibly herself or the guard at ground level. The figure just stood there, and when she means stood, she means it stood stock still like a statue on its hind legs like a Minotaur or a young Dragon. It wasn’t very tall, just at least about her height with a thin body frame, and that’s where the details ended; it was just too dark for her to see more clearly at the shadowy figure.
Fearing for herself loyal guard, she decided to inform him.
“G-guard!?” she stuttered out.
The guard stopped right under her balcony and looked up towards her, “Yes, your highness!?” he replied with a gruff voice.
“Shine your light over there!” she pointed, but once she looked back at the location where the figure stood it was gone. She took a quick scan of the area to see if it ran off to somewhere nearby, but nothing moved. The guard shined his light over, but there was nothing that stood there, just undergrowth and trees bare of any living animal.
“Nothing over there, Princess. Don’t worry about anything.” He called out to her and continued his patrolling.
Twilight couldn’t believe what just happened. There was a black figure standing within the tree line just a moment ago, but now there was not a trace of said figure anymore. It baffled and scared her mind to no end.
“H-hoo!”
“Oh! Sure, l-let’s go back in.” Twilight replied to her owl as he quickly nodded in agreement and she quickly got back into her study, closed her doors shut and started lighting the candles and oil lamps with a lit match stick. Once she was finished, she quickly draped all of her windows and glass doors out of paranoia, her body still feeling the effects of adrenalin caused by her fear response. She started pacing around the room with Owlicious still sticking close to her neck in fear.
Her mind raced a thousand meters a second, trying to figure out what just happened to her. Was she hallucinating? That would be the likely answer, but then why was Owlicious so scared? He heard those same spine chilling howls as well as the strange figure in the forest.
“Okay-okay.” She started looking around the room while taking deep steady breaths. She then looked at her desk and smiled, “Oh yes! I should prepare a letter for Princess Celestia about the incident.” She said to herself and quickly sat down on her chair, levitated over a parchment for the letter, dipped her quill into the ink jar and started quickly writing about the new situation that happened near the White Tail Woods.
As Twilight did her own business in her study, the patrolling stallion quietly trotted around the new Castle of Friendship. A veteran, he knew what to do and what to look for while in patrol duty. He’s been at this for a couple of hours now, his hooves ached but not nearly enough to stop him from doing his duty.
As he rounded a corner he was somewhat surprised to see light mist lingering close to the grassy ground. He looked around the open area with a frown and tried his best to see through the darkness of the nearby Everfree Forest and a few homes in the distance to see any suspicious activities, but none were found. With a mental nod, he continued his patrol till his horn suddenly just went out like a candle. He looked up at his horn in confusion and gently tapped his horn with his hoof.
“What the hay?” he whispered and started concentrating to bring back his magic and not a tiny spark as even lit. Suddenly he felt something dripping from his upper lip. He reached up and wiped his nose with his hoof and when looked his white coat was stained red with warm blood. As confusion led to worry for his inability to use magic and his blood flowing without end, he decided to turn back and let somepony else cover for his duty till he knows what’s wrong with him.
But then he froze in his tracks, just one hoof hanging in the air as a deathly growl emanated from behind him, sending chills throughout his body and running his blood dead cold as his mind tried to calm down the overwhelming fear building up inside him.
In hesitation, he slowly and shakily looked back to see a large wolf or a dog of some sort just standing there taking quiet mighty breaths, disturbing the mist just below it. Its coat was darker then the shadows of the Everfree itself, its blood red eyes glowed in the dark and pierced right into his soul, striking immense amounts of fear and terror and it stood just as tall as he was and he’s a few inches taller than his new Princess.
He knew he was staring straight at the embodiment of terror itself, the messenger of misfortune, the harbinger of death… the hound of Tartarus came for him this night.
In the early morning just as Celestias’ sun was looming over the horizon, a blood curdling scream echoed out throughout the crystal castle. Startled awake, Twilight accidentally rolled off her bed with a loud yelp and a thump. Spike jumped out of his basket panting like a mad dragon, his eyes wide in terror as the sound of a pony screaming still freshly echoed in his mind.
“T-Twilight?” he stuttered as his little body shook in fear. He backed up to his caretakers’ bed and looked over the top to only find an empty bed. “Twilight!?” he started to panic as loud rustling and grunting started sounding out. He backed away from the bed and screamed while shielding his eyes as a horrible creature popped out from behind the bed. “Aaaaahh!”
“Spike! It’s me, Twilight!” The mare wiggled out of her covers and kicked off the blanket with a grunt and quickly trotted around the bed to get to her assistant. Spike scurried over to her and hugged her barrel tightly as small dots of tears threatened to shed down his cheeks. Twilight wrapped her hooves and wings around her little assistant and gently shushed him with sisterly care.
A moment later, the door to her bedchamber was suddenly opened and a group of guards poured in searching the rooms’ every nook and cranny while one of them trotted over to her and Spike.
“Are you okay, Your Highness?” he asked and made a quick bow to her.
She nodded, “Yes, thank you.” She looked around her room and watched the guards, “What’s going on?’ she asked as she covered Spikes’ ears.
“A maid found our second in command right outside of the castle. We believe he passed away last night, Princess.” He answered as Twilight covered her mouth in shock.
“Clear!” a guard shouted as they all poured out Twilights’ room hastily.
Twilight looked down at her confused assistant and motioned her head towards the rolled up parchment on her desk, “Spike, can you send that letter to Princess Celestia, please?” she asked with a smile.
He quickly nodded and scurried over to her desk and grabbed the letter. With a mighty breath, he blew green fire onto his hand holding the letter itself, turning the parchment into floating sparkling ashes and whisked out the opened window.
Twilight nodded to him, “Thank you, Spike, now stay here with Owlicious till I get back, okay?” she got up and moved on over to her door and looked back to see him saluting at her with a serious, yet adorable expression.
As Twilight and her escort got out of the castle doors she was led to round the castle to see a group of guards standing at attention in a large circle with Pegasus guards flying around overhead with searching eyes as well as Unicorns and Earth pony guards searching the ground closely. Two guards saluted at Twilight and stepped aside to reveal the body of the stallion lying on the ground with a mare in a lab coat standing beside it, examining the body carefully without physical contact. Twilight cringed for a brief moment, collected herself with a few breaths, and advanced towards the center of the circle of guards.
“Good morning, Doctor Vessel.” She greeted with a forced smile, doing her best not to look at the body itself.
The tan colored Unicorn jumped a little and looked back at Twilight while adjusting her small glasses and quickly brushed her dark brown mane to compose herself in front of the new royal.
“G-good morning, y-your highness!” she smiled nervously with a perk of her ears she quickly bowed down, dropping her glasses onto the grassy ground in the process.
Twilight looked down at the nervous mare. She knew the mare since she was the castle personal Doctor and they met a couple of times to get a physical, but each time she was always a nervous wreck. Twilight lightly shook her head and motioned for the mare to stand up with her hoof.
“Please stand, Miss Vessel.” Twilight said and took looked at the body behind the mare nervously like was a dangerous animal. “Remember what we talked about.” she said.
“Oh… sorry, Miss S-Sparkle” the mares’ cheeks turned a light shade of pink and nervously adjusted her coat as well as levitating her glasses back up to her muzzle from the ground, “I-I forgot.”
“So…” Twilight pointed at the lying body, “What happened to him?” she asked.
Vessel perked up and quickly turned to the body before them with thoughtful expression, “Well, there are no visible wounds inflicted upon the stallion.” She trotted closer and leaned down in front of the head where dried blood covered both its nose and mouth as well as quite amount on the grass with a few red splotches nearby. “Quite a bit of blood pouring out of its mouth and nose, so the wound might be internal.” She then looked at the stained grass nearby, “But the stains are telling something else.” She said and went over to where the first drops of dried blood coated the grass, Twilight following in her wake.
“Any guesses to what happened?” she asked.
“It looks like he drowned in his own blood.” Vessel answered and quickly went back over to the stallion, the Doctors’ guess sent chills down Twilight’s body, the thought of drowning in your own blood disturbing her.
“Found any evidence to what might have caused the death?” Twilight asked once more and trotted over to look at the stallion more closely and reeled back in shock.
“N-What’s the matter?” the Doctor asked in concern.
“I… I-I…” Twilight found it hard to speak as she recognized the stallion from last night, flashbacks of the previous night bombarding her of the strange figure, the bone chilling howl, the sense of danger as well as the stallion. “I… s-saw…” she blurred out.
The Doctor quickly went by her side and gently settled Twilight down, “Deep breaths, Miss Sparkle… deep breaths.” she said and with a quick nod from Twilight, the young Alicorn started taking slow deep breaths to calm her nerves.
“I… I saw him l-last night…” She stuttered out shakily.
“Really?” the Doctor said, her eyes widening in surprise, “What did you see?” she asked.
“U-um…” Twilight started massaging her head with a strained expression, “I w-went out to my balcony with Owl… Owlicious for some f-fresh air and to stargaze, b-but a sudden ice cold wind just… blew past me and put out all the candles i-in my room.” She shivers as she started remembering more clearly, “Then, before I could go back in I… I heard a howl of some animal in the Everfree, twice. The first sounded like a regular distant wolf howling to the moon, almost inaudible to a point of silent whisper, b-but the second… i-it… it sounded so much closer, probably just a hundred or more yards away from the castle ground.” Twilight stopped for a moment to collect herself, the gentle caressing on her back helped calm her nerves. “The howl itself sound so… it sounded like poor dying, tortured animal, it was so unbearable to hear.” She then rubbed her face to clear her mind, “Right after I heard the howl, I-I saw him right below me with his horn lit. Just when I was getting back in, I saw a pitch black figure just standing right in the tree line like… it was just staring at us, not evening making a move.”
“What did it look like?” Vessel asked as she continued to caress her Princess.
“Well… it stood on its hind legs. P-probably not much taller than I am, and that’s about it, i-it just stood there for some time before I warned the guard. After I warned him it was gone without a trace just like it just ‘poof’ed out of existence.” She finished.
“Can you show us where it went?” Vessel asked as a Unicorn guard stood by them.
With a shaky nod and a flick of her horn she teleported the two and herself right under her balcony. With a quick look around of the area she managed to find where the figure stood in the forest and gave her a shiver once she figured out with some local plant life to compare for the figure that stood before them, it was as tall as she was. She shakily stood on the ground, “I-it was right h-here…” she picks up a stick from the ground and levitated it up to the tip of her scalp, “and th-this tall.”
“Thank you, Princess.” The guard marked the ground right under Twilight with a green glow by using his magic and froze the small twig in midair. A few more guards then came over to them and started making a thorough search of the area. Vessel nodded at the guards and went on over to Twilight with a small smile and started leading her around the castle in a casual pace, “Um… Miss Sparkle.” She gained her attention, “If I want to figure out what happened to our Loyal Guard, I need to make an autopsy but I can’t do it properly with the equipment I have in the castle.” They round a corner to be met with the circling guards, “And the closest place that has the proper equipment are at the Ponyville Hospital, so… if you don’t mind at least.” They stop at the guards, Vessel pawing at the grassy ground nervously.
Twilight smiled at her, “I’m sure the castle will do okay without its Doctor for a couple of days, Miss Vessel. You have my permission to go.” She said.
Vessel shortly bows her head, “Thank you, Miss Sparkle. I should be done within a couple of days.” She thanked her.
“Don’t mention it.” Twilight gently waved her hoof, “But we should cover up the body as we go there, we don’t want anypony to see the… ‘past on’ Guard.” She added and looked sadly at the laying body.
“Of course.” With a little bow; the mare teleported somewhere else and came back in a flash of light with a large white blanket in her mouth. Using her magic, she spread out the bed cover midair, quietly went over to the stallion, carefully took off his helmet and closed his eyes in an eternal sleep. With that done she backs away and gently lays the white fabric down, covering up the body fully but quickly stains as the blood seeps in the end of the head area.
A guard then galloped up to them with a cart in tow, a tarp covering up the top like a shield to cover the body from the eyes of the world. Vessel then carefully levitated the body to the air with the blanket still on, though Twilight was greatly unsettled seeing blood still quickly dripping down onto the grass like a leaking hose. Two Pegasus guards open up the tarp with their wings and Vessel gently laid the body down like it was a sleeping foal.
Twilight faced Vessel and motioned for her to follow her back inside, “Do you need anything before we go?” she asked as they begin to go up the short stairway to the castle entrance as the two guards opened the crystalline doors for them.
“Not much really, Miss Sparkle. The local Hospital has all the equipment and items I need to use to Document and dissect the pony, although I have a few items I like to bring along.” She answered as they casually trotted through the halls.
“Okay. You go back up and wait for me at the entrance. I’m going to send a letter to Princess Celestia about the incident and I’m going to check up on the mystery mare I and two of my friends found stumbling out of the White Tail Woods.” They started to split but Vessel stopped her.
“Oh Really!?” she said with a big smile on her face but quickly composed herself with a blush, “Um… really? I-if you don’t mind at least, Miss Sparkle…” she nervously rubbed her foreleg with the other and turned her gaze down to the floor.
Twilight smiled with a gentle giggle, “Of course I’ll share my notes with you, Doctor Vessel. Don’t worry.” Vessel smiled at her as Twilight nodded once to her before going off to her bedchambers slash study room.
A moment later Twilight arrived to her room and opened the double doors to see Spike tidying up the room with a little maid outfit and holding a feather duster to dust off the various items and furniture in the room. She wanted to laugh-oh she wanted to laugh… so she did while rolling around the floor and clenching her sides as tears formed.
The sudden outburst of laughter caused the young dragon to jump, startled by his surrogate sister and turned red as an apple, more specifically, Big Mac. He stiffened and scrunched up his face as Twilight continued to cackle on the floor like a mad mare while pounding the floor with her hoof. Inky smoke started to rise out of his nose.
“It’s not that funny…” he mumbled angrily and frowned down at the floor, trying to crack the solid crystal floor with the sheer power of his glare as Twilight continued to laugh.
Twilights’ laughter died down as she rolled onto her stomach and took deep breaths to calm down while still having a large grin plastered onto her face. She slowly got up and trotted over to her red-faced-embarrassed baby dragon and nuzzled him as well as wrapping a hoof around him in a close embrace.
She giggled; “I’m sorry, Spike, I didn’t mean to laugh at you.” She sat down and hugged Spike a little harder to her barrel, “It was just unexpected.” She looked down at the blushing dragon and nuzzled his nose, enticing a small smile to form on him. “No hard feelings?” she whispered.
Spikes’ smile grew a little, “No hard feelings.” He replied.
Twilight pecked him on the forehead and let him go over to her desk, levitating a parchment on the empty surface and dipped her quill in the small jar of ink, preparing yet another letter.
Dear, Princess Celestia.
Another incident has occurred just before you rose the sun. One of my maids in my castle has found a body of a Royal Guard right outside the castle grounds.
Twilight stopped for a moment to think, nibbling on the end of the feather with her pursed lips in thought.
A scream woke Spike and I from our sleep and I went to go check the body of the guard, who I saw the previous night, was now just laying on the ground on his side with dried blood leaking out of his nose and mouth.
Doctor Vessel (the castle doctor), and I will take the body to the Ponyville Hospital the moment I send you this letter, she will conduct an autopsy on the body to figure out what the cause of death was, while I will be checking on the mare Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and I found in the White Tail Woods. If the mare is well enough, I’ll be conducting an interview with her of why she stumbled out of the forest alone.
If you want me to send the reports on the investigations of both the mystery mare and the death of the guard, I’ll more than happy to pass on copies to you.
Your fellow Princess and Friend,
Twilight Sparkle.
She finished, rolled up the parchment then sealed it with her own emblem and new purple ribbon with a lavender stripe going along the middle. She turned to her assistant cleaning the room and still wearing the small maid outfit. With a suppressed giggle she went on over to him with the letter levitating beside her.
“Spike?” she said, gaining his attention and showing him the rolled up parchment, “Can you send this to Princess Celestia?” she asked.
With a nod, he grabbed the letter from her and blew out his green fire onto the letter itself, turning it to sparkling ashes and blew away through the open window.
“Thank you, Spike.” She quickly levitates out her saddlebag and fills it up with extra parchments and a spar quill and ink jar. “I’ll be out in the Ponyville Hospital all morning, but I’ll be back for lunch. If anypony needs me tell them I’m there, okay?” she strapped the bag on and ruffled her feathers.
“Okay, Twilight.” he replied as he climbed up a ladder to reach the hard place of her book shelf as Owlicious quietly slept at the very top with his feathers fluffed out.
“See you later!” Twilight called out as she left.
When Twilight and Doctor Vessel came to the Hospital with the cart pulled by a guard, the Doctors and Nurses were a little uneasy to why they had a cart with them, but the answer they got caused a few gasps from the nurses. Twilight informed them to keep this quiet till they know what happened to the stallion and assure them Doctor Vessel will be doing the autopsy. With the introductions done the guard pulled the cart around the back of the Hospital to hide it from the eyes of the public, Vessel following behind him.
Twilight then asked Nurse Redheart if the mystery mare was doing okay. The nurse then wore a strained thoughtful expression before she nudged her head to let Twilight follow her down the hall. Twilight quickly trotted over to her as the nurse leaned her head closer to her.
“She’s awake but…” she whispered, “She had a panic attack the moment she woke up when she saw where she was and a nurse quickly went out to get help to calm her down. Her vitals are stabilizing gradually but she’s a bit on edge, jumpy and paranoid so no sudden movements. It’ll help to be a little quiet as well.” She said to Twilight as they continued going through the halls with Doctors and Nurses passing by, nodding at the two mares with smiles and grunts.
“I’ll do my best.” Twilight replied as they reached the closed door to the Hospitals’ lucky patient. Both mares could hear some pony murmuring in a hushed and caring tone. Redheart raised a hoof and lightly knocked on the door.
“Who is it!?~” a mare replied with a sweet tone.
“It’s Redheart with a special guest~” the nurse replied with a same sweet tone, causing Twilight to look at her weirdly. Once the mare noticed Twilight staring at her, she chuckled nervously with light blush going across her muzzle, “Um… it’s our way of speaking to one another around the building. Kind of like a secret code to one another to let them know what type of information they’ll be receiving before we show them.” She pawed at the floor with her blush growing.
“Oh! Well… that’s quite interesting.” Twilight said.
“Come on in!” the mare inside said.
Nurse Redheart opened the door and stepped in first to gesture Twilight in. Twilight nodded at her and looked at the patients’ bed and only to be surprised by the fact that she wasn’t on her bed with all the equipment left there with no use. She looked around a little and found another nurse seated in the other corner of the room behind a somewhat draped bed with her back turned to them and quietly speaking to something, or some pony in this case.
Twilight unleashed her saddlebag from her and levitated it onto the nearest bed and quietly trotted over to the speaking mare. She stopped herself a good two metres away and clopped the floor to gain her attention. The nurse looked back and was surprised to see their youngest Princess in front of her.
“Oh… I didn’t know it was you Princess.” She said and got up to bow but was stopped by Twilight waving her hoof and lightly shaking her head.
“Twilight is just fine, thank you.” She said back with a small smile.
“Oh! Um…” she looked back and smiled at the patient, “I know you don’t want to meet anymore ponies, but this is one of three ponies that saved you.” She whispered kindly, “Do you want to say ‘Hi’?” she asked with a hopeful smile.
The silence was, to Twilights’ point, unnerving as well as bringing back the feeling of danger from the previous night, sending chills up her spin. After a while the nurse looked back at her with a gentle nod.
Twilight quietly and slowly trotted over to her and looked around the draped bed to see a skinny mare hugging a white pillow closely while she lightly rocked to and fro on the floor. Twilight then sat down beside the nurse with a small smile.
“Hello.” She greeted quietly.
The bandaged mare looked up at her with her eyes and suddenly stopped rocking, staying still as a statue. She just stared at her, eyes locked onto her own pair like predator or a petrified prey.
After a long, nerve racking moment, the mare just looked back down at the floor and tightened her grip on the pillow.
Twilight swallowed a lump in her throat, “Um… what’s your name?” she asked.
After waiting for five minutes for an answer she decided to introduce herself.
She gestured to herself, “My name is Twilight-”
“Sparkle. The fourth Princess of Equestria, the youngest of the four and the Princess of Friendship. Grew up to be Princess Celestias’ protégée after a magical accident in the Hall of Magic, turning her parents into plants, growing the infant baby dragon into a full grown adult and levitating the judges after a Sonic Rainboom startled you. You were enrolled into school, also known as Celestias’ School for Gifted Unicorns to train and control your magical potential…” the mare stopped and looked up with her eyes at the shocked Twilight with a blank stare, “Good morning Princess Twilight Sparkle…” she greeted in a monotone voice and looked back down at the floor, going back into her own little world like nothing happened while nuzzling into the pillow like a filly to her favorite doll.
Twilight and Redheart stared at the skinny mare with hanging mouths and eyes bulging out like they just seen Fluttershy kick a puppy right in front of them. The other nurse then closed their mouths for them and patted their heads to get them back.
“Now, now, it’s not nice to stare at somepony like that.” She said and gently wiped their lips with a tissue paper.
