Foreign

Twilight levitated another log into the small campfire. Sparks raced and danced with joy over the gift though Twilight hardly took notice. Instead her focus was on a small journal that she had taken with her. Twilight wrote about the day of traveling she had done as well as her thoughts on the current situation which at this point was astonishingly filled with more positive than negative. Twilight enjoyed the journey so far. She saw amazing sights from graciously falling waterfalls, enormous cliffs and rocks long eroded by the wind creating massive sculptures of nature, and trees that seemed to stretch across the far reaches of Equestria only to be interrupted by lakes that reflected the essence of the forests. Even now Twilight was gazing from an edge of a cliff to a lake whose water was so still it reflected the stars of the night sky to the point where it was nigh impossible to tell where the sky ended and the water started. Twilight also wrote about how disappointed she felt when she had to travel alone, the concern she had for the safety of Equestria, how guilty she felt over Spike’s long stare and brisk goodbye, and about how frustrating long the journey was taking.

Twilight misjudged the time it would take her to reach the great structure from the map. She predicted that it would take her at most only one day; however, she had judged this based on a straight line from her castle to the location on the map. The journey towards the complex ended up being less of a straight line and more of a zig zag which resulted with her now having to make camp. A firefly landed on top of the page that Twilight was writing on and caused her to pause. Carefully she reached out a hoof in a successful attempt to pick up the firefly. The firefly flashed its light with contempt as it started to climb Twilight’s leg. While watching the lightning bug’s climb, Twilight started to reflect other places she had visited with her friends. She regretted that her friends were not with her now. They were a part of the reason why Twilight brought along a journal so she could share everything with them when she returned. The firefly let out one final light before taking wing and headed to the lake. Twilight wrapped up her final thoughts and turned in for the night.

The vast reaches of trees gave way to grasslands which signaled to Twilight that her journey was coming to a close. Just a few minutes after flying above the grasslands Twilight spotted the great structure in the distance. The three story flat-roofed, pony-made structure abruptly stood apart from flow of the landscape making it impossible to miss. Right outside the building, on the opposite side of the main road, Twilight spied the forest.

Twilight landed near the building about 15 minute after locating the complex. Twilight had seen the structure on the map in her castle, yet nothing was like standing outside it in person. It was enormous, a lot bigger than Twilight had imagined. She stood at the entrance which was located where both wedges met and connected to the circular center. The wedges themselves had a large tilted overhang extending from the building and supported by columns of logs. Giant sized windows nearly 20 feet in length and 10 feet in height covered the wedges from top to bottom while square windows of 10 feet appeared on the main structure. The windows where spaced about 15 feet apart. Twilight counted 20 windows on each wedge on the first floor alone.  The need of such a structure confused Twilight who stood dumbfounded by the seemingly unnecessary size of the building. She approached the two massive doors of the complex and entered inside.

Twilight found herself inside an open area. To her right was a chest high counter with a door that led to a back room. In front of her was a common area with dozens of seats and couches. In the center was a large fire pit that had a chimney for the smoke to escape the building. Several columns of carved wood descended from the ceiling with various designs. One appeared to represent a sunrise while another resembled a ship sailing into the horizon. Elegant rugs of all sizes covered the hard wooden floor. The back left portion of the wall curved which Twilight assumed was part of the circular structure she had seen outside while the right portion had glass doors leading to a patio area. To the left and right sides of the room were larger wooden doors which Twilight suspected lead to other areas of the wedges.

Twilight focused her attention to the desk sprawling with papers in an organized mess. On top of all the mess sat a small bell. Looking around the area Twilight found the place completely empty and pondered if anypony was even in the complex at all. She trotted to the counter and rang the bell.

“What? Ahh!” The unmistakable sound of objects crashing to the ground followed by a startled voice of a pony shook any doubt Twilight had of the complex being abandoned.

“On my way. Whoa!”

A light blue and young stallion with golden eyes and an orange mane tumbled out of the back room and landed face first on the ground. Before Twilight could ask if the pony was alright he bounded back up staring intently at a piece of paper in front of him. Not once did he look at Twilight while he started to energetically read from the paper.

“Right. Welcome to The Great Timberwolf Lodge, gateway to a whole other world.  Whether you came here for work or to escape from it, a researcher and slash or explorer, or you just happen to be in the area, Equestria’s biggest inn has all you need and more. From natural springs to guided tours The Great Timberwolf Lodge is your escape from the busy and stressful life found in the cities to a place of peace and serenity. Note that all guided tours of Serenity Forest has been suspended and if you wish to explore the forest you must have approval and attend a briefing by the owner, Red Oak, or his wife, Honey Oak. Now, what is it that I, Clutterbug, can do for you today?”

For the first time the pony glanced at Twilight whom had been standing patiently for the pony to finish. Twilight swore she saw all the color drain from his fur as his once enthusiastic eyes shrank into stupefied ones. Twilight figured that the pony recognized her, but decided to introduce herself anyways in order to break the ice.

“Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle. How are you today? Clutterbug was it?” Twilight asked.

The pony for his part continued to stare as if he still didn’t believe who was standing just a few feet in front of him. Twilight held in a sigh at the thought of dealing with yet another star struck pony. It was a feeling and look she could never get used to. She half wondered how Celestia managed to deal with it for over a thousand years when the stallion in front of her finally got a hold of himself.

“Red, you may want to come out for this one.” The pony said. Directing his comment past Twilight to an office she had not notice before. His voice was shaky; however, Twilight saw something else reflect in the pony’s eyes. Was that hope?

Twilight then heard loud chattering coming from beyond the great doors to the left which started to open. A group of around 30 ponies, and even gryphons, entered the room. They continued chatting among themselves until one of them finally noticed Twilight standing at the main entrance and started gesturing to others towards her. A quiet hush filled the room creating an uneasy silence which, once again, made Twilight uncomfortable. Before she could do anything to change the atmosphere the door behind Twilight opened and out stepped a slightly dark red stallion with bark brown eyes and mane. He had a cold hard stare that he directed to Clutterbug as if to say “what is it this time” until he noticed the purple alicorn princess in the room. Twilight saw a dance of emotion display on the older pony’s face ranging from astonishment, to questioning, and even…was that concern? The red pony’s face finally rested on that of pure joy as he quickly bowed to the princess.

“Greetings Princess Twilight, hero of Equestria, and welcome to The Great Timberwolf Lodge. Honestly I must say that we were not expecting somepony with such renown as you, however, my staff and I are ready to assist you in any way possible.” The pony said.

Twilight swiftly told the red pony to stand on his hooves while asking to speak in private wanting to leave the questioning gazes of the lobby. The red pony smiled while gesturing to his office. The office was very small. Only a desk, two chairs, and a few cabinets were in the room. Nothing adorned the bare walls and only a few papers were on the desk.

“Welcome to my humble abode. My name is Red Oak and if you would forgive my bluntness princess I would like to know what you are doing here?” Red Oak asked.

Twilight’s brain had to take a double take. Just moments ago Red Oak had welcomed her here warmly. Now here he was, staring down Twilight so intensely it could knock down a wall. The fact that he challenged Twilight of all pony’s merely left her stunned. It was so out of the blue that Twilight seemed to recoil back a bit with hint of worry before she managed to compose herself. Suspicious feelings started to materialize in Twilight’s mind. The guarded look of the pony screamed at Twilight that he may have had something to do with the foreign magic. In fact, now that she thought about it, she could feel that very same presence all around her, mixed in with the magic of the land. Twilight returned the glare along with a challenge from herself.

“Why is it so important to know why I am here?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not the smartest pony around but I do know how to put two and two together. I wished to have heard it from you first to confirm, but instead allow me to take a stab in the dark. This lodge is a very popular destination for both vacationers and researchers alike. Any and all stays here must be booked in advanced which I know for a fact you did not. If you had, preparations would have been made and our guest, staffs, and permanent stayers would have been informed. The fact that you are here now either means that you stumbled here spontaneously, or more likely, you are here for official business. Did I hit the nail on the head? It’s not that I don’t appreciate you coming princess, I do. I just don’t want another pony to go missing, let alone a princess. I beg you princess, don’t go into that forest. Though I can’t solve and bring back home the ponies that went missing, I have prevented another soul from being taken.” Red Oak said.

“What do you mean by not wanting another pony to go missing?” Twilight asked.

“Have you not heard?” Red Oak asked.

Twilight gaze had completely softened while Red’s flooded with confusion. Instead of elaborating on what he had said earlier he instead motioned for Twilight to follow him. He led Twilight out of the office to the common room again. The large group that was there had moved to the patio outside. Red trotted to the other side of the room and pointed towards a board hanging on the wall with several images. Above the images was a simple phrase that said help me find my way home.

“Over the last year or so we had about 20 ponies go missing within Serenity Forest.” Red Oak said.

Sadness filled Twilight’s heart as she looked over the pictures of the missing ponies. She could accept not hearing about a missing case of a pony or two in one area. 20 ponies in one area however, nearly shattered her hear. How could she, Princess Twilight Sparkle, a guardian of Equestria, let a case of 20 missing ponies slide under her nose? She instantly thought of the foreign magic that invaded her home. She knew that there must be a connection between the missing ponies and the magic.

“Did you ever notify anypony about this? Why did you never send any detectives?” Twilight asked.

“We did. Half of those you see missing are ponies who went out searching for them. Everypony who enters those woods and don’t follow the trail end up missing.” Red said. “It came to a point where we all agreed to stop sending for help. We didn’t want anypony else to disappear.”

“Surely you must know something, anything that can hint about what happen to them.” Twilight said.

Red shook his head. “I’m sorry princess, but the time for seeking answers is long over. All we can do now is hope for the best and prevent anyone else from going in the forest, including you. I must ask again princess that you not enter those woods.” Red said.

Twilight knew that she couldn’t leave now. She had to go into those woods and find out what happen to those ponies. She wasn’t the only one to think so as she discovered. Looking at Red Oak she found something contradicting in his eyes. Though he pleaded for Twilight to leave she saw within Red a hint of hope; a silent plea in the dark directed at Twilight to ignore him and find out whom or what was causing the disappearances. And to find the ponies and bring them home.

“At the very least, will you please think about this over a complementary meal and a nights rest?” Red Oak asked.

“I will.” Twilight said. Though her mind was already made up.