We’re in danger. An ancient enemy has crept back into our world. I faced this evil once and watched it die thousands of years ago. I was convinced it would never see the light of day again, that we would be safe. But it’s back, it’s here, I can feel it grow stronger every day! If we don’t do something about it, this force of disharmony will dismantle our society until there is nothing left but chaos and death! ...IT wants what we have.
...
The sun was shining, the sky was dark and the trees were glowing in a vibrant hue of red. It was a beautiful day in the peaceful town of Ponyville. Yet, not a single pony could be seen outside enjoying it. The streets of this once cheerful town were now populated by a cruel silence that filled the air with fear.
The outside world was no longer safe. An unseen evil lurked in the distance posing a dangerous threat to the whole town. Everypony sought shelter inside their homes, sealing all doors and windows in the hopes that the ponies’ presence would go unnoticed and their magic would be spared. Trapped inside their homes, all the ponies could do was wait in silence until it was safe to go out again.
The worst part about their imprisonment was not knowing when, or how, this mysterious threat would manifest itself. This uncertainty along with an immense sense of powerlessness could drive anypony crazy.
In an effort to stay calm, everyone found ways to distract themselves. Some tried to sleep through the ordeal, hoping everything would be back to normal next time they opened their eyes, others found comfort in telling stories and reading books, or even playing board games, anything that could help them kill time and take their minds off of their current predicament.
“There!” said a pegasus filly, after matching one of her domino tiles to another one in a line of play, “your turn.”
With a big grin on her face, she looked up at her older brother sitting across from her, patiently waiting for him to try and make a move. The young strategist had managed to successfully block both ends of the line.
‘I GOT'EM!’ she thought.
Her brother looked at his tiles, then back at the small game table. The earth pony was having trouble concentrating. All he could think about were the possible dangers outside his doorstep, which slowly fed his anxiety. ‘At least she’s having fun.’ He thought.
“I don’t have any matching tiles.” He finally realized, after staring at the game for some time.
“Well grab some from the pile!” Iris demanded, pointing at the yet to be used tiles lying on the table. Her brothers’ apparent lack of interest in the game annoyed her. She was so close to winning, and Red’s unwillingness to keep playing was preventing her from it.
“Right.” He reached for one tile, looked at it and put it down seeing that it wasn’t what he was looking for. He sighed and reached for a second tile, then a third, then a fourth and so on. Eventually fetching one that matched the ends on the game, but at that point he’d already forgotten what he was looking for, getting lost somewhere along the repetitive actions of fetching, inspecting, putting down and repeating.
The earth pony’s mind remained focused on the monster, running lose, somewhere out there. ‘What if nopony catches it?’ he wondered, grabbing yet another tile. ‘What if it does get here? What happens then?’ This growing anxiety was eating him from the inside out, and it made impossible for him to concentrate on the game. He kept fetching and fetching until there were no more tiles for him to reach.
“Huh?” The earth pony expressed his confusion, failing to find another tile to put on his stack. He looked back at his stack of tiles and he realized what’d just happened. At that moment, Iris threw her front hoofs up into the air and exclaimed her victory.
“I WIN! In your face, Red.”
“Shh! What’s wrong with you?” Red reacted, angered by his sister carelessness. “We’re supposed to stay quiet, remember?”
“Sorry, I forgot.” She sat back down, her big smile replaced by an even bigger frown.
Red looked around, paranoid the monster might have heard them and stared at the door for a few seconds. Satisfied, he turned his attention back to his sister. “Well, don’t forget. Ok?” He leaned back on the sofa behind him, crossing his front hooves.
“Ok...” whispered the young filly, with her face looking down. “Are you mad at me?”
Red took a deep breath, calming down, and in a softer tone replied, “No,” regretting just how bad he overreacted. He was really stressed out and allowed his insecurities to get the best of him.
“I just want you to stick to the rules,” he continued, unwrapping his hooves away from his chest, “I’m sorry if it sounded like I was mad at you.” He came up to the little table again. “Now, come on, let’s play again.”
“I don’t wanna play this game anymore,” Iris said, not wanting to make eye contact with her brother just yet.
Red had to cheer her up somehow. “What do you want to do then?”
Slowly, Iris finally turned to look at her brother. “Can we play checkers?”
“I don’t know how to play checkers.”
“I’ll teach you,” Iris quickly responded, moving back towards the table.
“Iris, you don’t know how to play checkers either.”
“Right…” Iris smiled once again. “Well, I’m bored, how long do we have to stay in here? My wings are ITCHING to go outside!” The filly had regained her excitement, she spread her wings as if she was about to take off into the skies.
“I don’t know,” Red said, happy to see his sister regain her enthusiasm. “They weren’t specific about it.” He continued, as he started picking up the game pieces. “Hopefully not too long.”
“What are we hiding from, anyways?” asked the curious filly.
...
“But, for how long?” Red asked, concerned about the gravity of the situation.
“How should I know silly?” Pinkie Pie replied, with a big smile on her face. “It could be anything from a few minutes to a few MONTHS!” She emphasized by standing on her hind legs and rising her front hoofs into the air.
Red was shocked and repeated her words in disbelief, “a few MONTHS?”
“Yeah, it all depends,” She said, nodding her head not seeming too worried about the ordeal.
“On what?” Red demanded to know.
“On how long it takes to catch a super evil, pony hating, magic stealing monster from Tartarus who wants to enslave all of Equestria.”
Infra Red’s jaw dropped as he froze in a moment of terror.
Seemingly ignoring his reaction, pinkie leaned in and whispered one last thing to the frightened stallion. “But please don’t tell anypony, it could lead to mass panic.”
The party maniac hoped away to somepony else’s house, leaving Red to ponder over his newly acquired knowledge. He, slowly, stepped inside and locked his door.
...
“They... didn’t... say...” Red replied, hoping Iris wouldn’t question him further.
“Oh,” Iris said, disappointed by her brother’s answer. “But, didn’t you a...”
“Do you wanna hear a story?” Red quickly interrupted, cutting her off. He knew Ruby would never stop questioning him about it unless he switched the subject of the conversation. He had to get those words out of his mind, they’d been driving him crazy for the past hour and it was only getting worse. Besides, telling stories always helped him clear his mind.
Red dropped the last tiles into the domino box and closed it. He got up and sat in the sofa behind him signaling Iris with his hoof to join him.
“Come over.”
Iris quickly hoped onto the sofa and sat on his lap. Iris loved her brother’s stories, whether it was a made up adventure or a memory from his childhood. Too bad he couldn’t really come up with anything at that moment.
He’d never had any difficulty coming with something on the spot, but this time it was different. The only thing on his mind was that monster pinkie described. ‘Think, Red! Think! Come on!’ He desperately tried to come up with something, as his sister waited for him to begin.
“What story are you telling me this time?” Iris asked, with much intrigue.
“I’m trying to decide between two stories,” he lied, racing through his mind at a hundred miles per hour trying to find something to say. After a few minutes, he was finally able to reach an old memory.
“Umm, did I ever tell you about the time I saw a ghost?”
“No way? Seriously?” Said the surprised filly, curious to know everything her brother was about to say.
‘Nice job, genius!’ Red thought to himself. ‘You went from escaping a current nightmare to reliving an old one.’
But even if this story brought back bad memories, it would at least help him forget about his current worries, which were a lot worse. He knew there was nothing he, as a simple earth pony, could do to ensure the capture of this monster. The best he could do was to take his mind off of it, relax and wait patiently for the beast to be captured.
“It happened one night, several years ago, at around two am.” He started. “In a dream, as I was walking through a really dark alley, I stepped in a hole and fell in it. At that very moment, I clearly felt something pull one of my back legs, which instantly woke me up. Confused about the whole thing, I grabbed my leg to make sure everything was ok. Then I looked up to see around the room and saw a silhouette standing right in front of me.” Red exclaimed as Iris gasped and instinctively curled up against him while hugging a pillow she found nearby.
“What was it doing?” she whispered.
“Nothing, it was right on the edge of my bed, right next to my legs and it wasn’t moving or making any sounds. It was just staring at me, and it sent chills down my back.
I remember it was really dark and I couldn’t make out what it looked like. The only things that stood out were its eyes, studying me closely, and its smile. My first instinct was to scream for help, but the words didn’t come out. I felt short of breath, every attempt I made to say something ended in me gasping for air.
Shaking from fear, I jumped out of bed with the intention to run away! But I just fell to ground, realizing I couldn’t move my hind legs. Desperate to get out, I started dragging myself out of the room. I looked back for a second and saw that the silhouette was slowly following me, not seeming too worried that I could get away, and still smiling.”
Iris’ squished the pillow in anticipation for whatever was about to happen. Red’s anxiety was completely gone now. Even though he was remembering a frightening experience, seeing his sister react to it brought him a lot of joy.
I tried to scream again once I reached the hallway, but it didn’t work. I knew then that my only option was to keep dragging myself until I got to our parents’ room. If I managed to knock on their door, they could come out and save me. So I focused all my strength on getting to them as fast as I could.
My front legs were shaking, getting weaker and weaker every time I pulled myself forward. I finally reached their door and was about to knock when I felt its presence right behind my back. I turned around and saw its face up close for the first time. It was, literally, inches from mine. I could see its broken skin, its sharp teeth, the blood on its eyes, I could even smell its breath. I felt my heart racing as I was finally able to let out a loud scream, and then...”
“Did you hear that?” Iris exclaimed, with a terrified look on her face.
“I didn’t hear anything. What’s the problem, are you scared?” Red said, mocking his little sister.
“I’m serious. It sounded like something …fell,” Iris looked around the room trying to find the source of this mysterious sound.
