Prologue- A letter and a package
Twilight stood outside the hut with her hoof against the door. Around her were the same woods she had gotten so acquainted with during her stay in Ponyville. It had stopped being scary a long time ago. The black woods filled with so many terrors was just a forest with some dangerous wildlife and a bad reputation. Even when it was scary, when she knew less about it and the old farmers tales got to her, Zecora's hut had been a safe haven of sorts. A place where she'd be safe from what lurked in the dark. So it spooked her when this the hut seemed to be completely empty. Her knock had echoed through what had to be an empty room. An empty room with no occupants. Normally when she knocked, the sound was partly muted by the interior of the house, and Zecora's voice would always welcome her in.
She gave it another firm knock. An empty echo answered it. The windows were covered up by sheets or cardboard making it impossible to look inside. Was Zecora sleeping? No one would be able to sleep through that much noise. Then again, thinking about how much effort Spike had to put in in order to wake up her after the most taxing all-nighters it wasn't impossible that Zecora was asleep. But she wouldn't do something like that the night before her own birthday, would she? No... That was absurd! Zecora wasn't like that. Not at all!
Another knock. Echo. Another. Echo. Twilight stood as if nailed to the ground. What was going on? It was so strange, so wrong, for Zecora's hut to be empty. For this place to have changed at all. Curiosity, mixed in with worry, got the best of her and she opened the door. Which moved with eerie lightness. Inside the room there was nothing. At all. Light seeped through a few cracks in the cardboard covering the windows and from the open doorway, adding to the empty feel of the place. A thin layer of dust covered the floor.
She took a few steps forward and looked around the empty room. There were light patches where the furniture, carpets and wall decorations had been, giving her the strange idea that they had been there for years. Maybe even decades, but that was impossible. Zecora wasn't that old, maybe a few years older than her, but not enough for her decorations to have been here for so long.
After a brief moment of puzzled silence, she let her eyes rest on a paper wrapped package laying on the floor. It blended in with the surprisingly pale floor. On top of it laid a folded letter. She approached it and lifted the letter with her magic. The writing was unmistakably Zecora's, the twisting and exotic lines and hoops who were so typical of the mysterious mare.
To: Whomever finds this letter.
From: Zecora. Right hoof of R'hrea, Highest Priestess
With the letter in her magic grasp, she opened it and began to read. Seeing as it had no actual recipient, what was the harm?
If you read this letter, I'm gone. I'll be a few days gone, and maybe even have left Equestria entirely. If the one who finds this has just passed by, please stop reading and bring this letter and the package to Twilight Sparkle. It should be pretty obvious who I am referring to. If Twilight Sparkle or one of her friends find this letter, I am terribly sorry. I wanted to be there for my birthday party, I really did! However this is something I have planned for a long time and unforeseen events have forced me to act.
Before you make any attempt at finding me, please read the book inside the package, consider it my memoirs. Then make up your mind.The following is a story long in the works. It's based on my diary, letters I have written and received from friends, family and colleagues and what I have relieved with the help of my own magic. After reading this, Twilight, you hopefully know whether or not I am worth your time. In the meantime, know that I regret so many of my actions. I can only hope that you might find it in your heart to forgive me. Should somehow find it within your heart to forgive me, I will be staying at the Thunderclap Inn in the border town of Burnished Hollow until the spring returns. If I do not see until then I bid you farewell.
By the bottom of the page a few lines had been crossed out so there was just one remaining. The rest were crudely crossed out and a few were blanked out by what looked like tear stains which made them totally indecipherable
Twilight shifted her gaze from the letter to the package and back again. Her mind raced at a hundred miles and hour for a few long moments while she tried to wrap her head around what had just happened. For some reason it all seemed to weirdly fantastic and far fetched. Like something out of a work of fiction.
Driven by curiosity, she sat down by the package and peeled away the brown wrapper with her magic. Hopefully, she would get a quick look into what she just read. Then she would rush back to Ponyville and they would find Zecora. Probably. No matter what, she had to get to the bottom of this. She looked at the book resting on the floor. It was surprisingly small and compact with a few loose pages. It seemed like it was decades old and had the faintest ‘old book’ smell about it. It had no title, only the plain brown cover.
What was she thinking? She had to get to Ponyville and they had to go find Zecora! Nothing she could do would possibly make them forget about her. They were friends after all. That was what friends did. Forgive.
With that, she repacked the book and headed back to the clearing where her friends waited in a brisk trot. It bothered her that Zecora would do something like this. The words pulled on her mind, digging into her conscious like hooks dragging it to dark places. Memories of what dark things lurked in the zebra homelands. Ancient cults and demon worship were things easy to associate with Equestria’s southern sister continent. R’hrea didn’t make any precise bells toll, but it sounded familiar.
After a short trot through the forest, Twilight arrived at the clearing where her friends looked at her with confused looks. Banners lined it and cakes were set up on the many tables brought from the Apple family’s barn. Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood there with their hooves full of gifts. When they noticed the grim and worried expression on Twilight’s face the mood shifted from a merry and excited mood awaiting a birthday celebration, to something more fitting a funeral.
“Where is Zecora?” Applebloom asked.
“Zecora is… Gone…” Twilight replied in a deadpan tone. She sighed at every word, alluding to her worry and confusion.
“What? How gone?” Applejack asked and took a cautious step forwards.
Twilight remained silent, and instead gave the letter to Applejack. After reading it, she passed it around until everyone had read it and everyone shared Twilight’s mask in some form or another.
“You know what this means right?” Pinkie asked. “Road trip!”
