Fleeting Shadows

by SkyHighFlyer

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Horror, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, Gore, Dark
Length: 9174

As a young filly and the personal student of Princess Celestia herself, Twilight Sparkle is content with a life of books and knowledge. Setting out on an unexpected journey, she discovers that advenure can be found where you least expect it.

As a young filly and the personal student of Princess Celestia herself, Twilight Sparkle is content with a life of books and knowledge. Somewhat fearful of the world beyond the walls of the castle she calls home, she is content to ignore it entirely.

So when Princess Celestia sends her to investigate a series of mysterious disappearances in a distant village, needless to say Twilight is caught unprepared. Now setting out on her first every journey beyond the walls of Canterlot, Twilight has a lot to learn about Equestria, and about herself.

The first thing she'll learn is that sometimes, adventure can be found where you least expect it.

Set before season 1.

Published 2017-03-08 03:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-11-12 18:37:15 UTC

Chapter 1, Call of Adventure

As the sun rose into the sky early in the morning, the sole resident of one of Canterlot Castle's many tall and graceful towers was awoken, in what was certainly far removed from a graceful manner. Twilight Sparkle woke to the sound of loud and impatient knocking at the door to her room long before the rays of early morning light ever reached her eyes.

Groaning at the unexpected and unwelcome awakening she was subjected to, Twilight let herself enjoy a few seconds more precious sleep before rolling herself out of bed to see what whoever was at the door wanted. Her mind still in a haze from being unexpectedly awoken from her sleep, she could think of little aside from her growing irritation as she made her way slowly to the door.

Pulling the door open with far more force than necessary, Twilight glared at the royal guard who had interrupted her sleep with an expression that seemed to be daring his words to be a waste of her time. If he even noticed the deathly glare being directed at him he didn't react to it, his stoic expression never wavering.

“Yes?” Twilight asked, her words carrying much of the same expression of impatience and annoyance as her eyes. Still the guard remained stoic.

“Princess Celestia has requested your presence. She said to tell you that her request is not urgent, but should be seen to before court begins.”

Twilight sighed. If the princess wanted to see her before court began for the morning, that meant that Twilight would need to meet with her over breakfast, which ended far earlier in the morning than she would ordinarily wake.

“I see, thank you,” Twilight said, irritability never leaving her voice as she closed the door, again with far more force than necessary, and slowly wandered back to her bed. Her plans to return to sleep for another few hours ruined, she settled for whatever she could get and crawled back into bed.

Rest never came to her however, and finally Twilight gave up on sleep altogether. Resolved that coffee would solve the worst of her fatigue, she pulled herself from the comfort of her bed and made her way out, slowing only to brush her mane briefly before leaving.

Fortunately, the dining hall was only a short walk from Twilight's room, given the size of the castle. It took Twilight only a few minutes to make her way there.

“Twilight,” Princess Celestia said as her student made her way into the room with a noticeably tired expression. “I'm surprised to see you so early. I was worried that you might oversleep and miss our meeting.”

Twilight’s only response was to sit down and pour herself some coffee, avoiding making eye contact and waiting for her mentor to continue.

“It's rather fortunate that you came when you did though,” Celestia continued, “had you slept much longer I would have had to wake you myself to stop you from missing your train.”

“Train!” Twilight exclaimed in shock. Her eyes shot up to meet her mentor's, stricken with panic for a short moment. Princess Celestia met her student's eyes, reacting to a look as terrified as it was silently pleading with the same calm, serene smile Twilight was accustomed to seeing daily.

The silence between them was deafening for a moment, extended for a moment as Princess Celestia took a sip of her tea, set the cup down, fixed Twilight with a serious look, and said, “I would imagine this comes as some surprise to you, as short notice as it is.”

“You could say that,” Twilight said, trying her best to keep her breathing under control at the news of her sudden and unplanned journey.

“I'm sorry about that,” Princess Celestia replied, “truthfully the matter was only brought to my attention late last night. I would like to give you more time to prepare yourself, but as it is this has already been put off longer than it should have.”

“What do you mean?”

Princess Celestia sighed. “The matter I'm referring to is a series of disappearances in a town called Spring Shades. It's a small village in the eastern woodlands, nestled into the mountains and far enough from civilization that it doesn't appear on most maps. As such, they have little need for a guard force.

“The matter was first brought to the attention of the royal guard about a month ago. At the time the disappearances were written off as a simple case of missing ponies, something that the townsponies could handle themselves. Several more requests for assistance have been received since, each sounding more serious than the last, until finally I became aware of the matter last night.”

“Alright,” Twilight replied, “But what does this have to do with me?”

Celestia sighed, then took another sip of her tea. Finally, she set the cup down and said, “I'm sending you to investigate the disappearances.”

“But why me? Why not an investigator from the guard?” Twilight asked.

Celestia looked down at her and smiled. “Twilight, you've been under my tutelage for many years now. While you certainly aren't a guard, you are more competent than any investigator from the guard that I could send. I could just send a search party to look further into the matter, but I have a feeling they would just spend most of their time tripping over themselves.”

After a moments pause, during which an awkward silence filled the hall, Twilight replied, “I guess that makes sense. When are we leaving?”

Princess Celestia's smile faded. “Spike will be remaining behind on your journey. While I have no doubt that he would be helpful, he is still too young to journey so far from home. I'm sorry, but this journey isn't for him.”

“Oh, alright... I can accept that,” Twilight said. The journey ahead of her, already daunting for a pony who was fearful of even leaving the castle, was quickly beginning to overwhelm her with dread. I took all of her effort to keep her breathing steady and her panic under control.

While it was generally no secret that Twilight was afraid to leave the castle and fearful of the outside world, Princess Celestia was the only one knew how deep that fear ran. Twilight struggled to even leave the castle grounds, let alone leave the city. While she would never let it show, her impending journey terrified her far more than anything else that could have been discussed over their meeting.

Princess Celestia smiled again. “I know this may seem harsh, especially on such short notice, but there are places to see beyond the walls of this castle. The world can be a terrifying place if you let it, but it's full of far too many wonders not to be explored.”

Twilight took several deep, steady breaths. “I understand.”

Though it was barely more than a whisper, it was enough to reassure Princess Celestia. Her smile grew, and in a voice both reassuring and haunting to Twilight's ears she said, “Your train is scheduled to leave at noon, so you should have plenty of time to get ready after breakfast.”

The few hours left in the morning felt like minutes as Twilight readied herself for the journey ahead of her. For the most part, her supplies for the journey consisted of various books on topic she felt may be relevant for the task ahead of her. The remaining space in her saddlebags were filled with various travel supplies, such as camping equipment and food rations.

Because of its remote location, Spring Shades had no train lines to it. Twilight's train would stop her at the nearest town, from which she would have to travel the rest of the way on hoof. Though she should be able to reach the town before nightfall, it never hurts to be prepared, especially in wild, untamed regions such as the eastern woodlands, where wild storms and untamed weather are commonplace.

It felt like so little time had passed since breakfast, but as noon approached Twilight stepped onto the train that would soon take her all the way out to the very edge of Equestria, a wild and untamed place, full of adventures to be had and undiscovered wonders to be explored.

As Twilight Sparkle departed Canterlot, she idly wondered what she would find in Spring Shades, unaware of the adventures that awaited her.

Chapter 2, Foreboding Circumstances

Though Twilight attempted to get some rest on the train, sleep eluded her as her mind wandered, from the events of the morning to the day ahead of her. It was no secret that Twilight had a tendency to dwell on the worst possibilities if nopony was there to reign her in, and a long train ride by herself was the perfect place for her to drift into less pleasant thoughts. What if she went missing like all the ponies in Spring Shades, or what if she couldn't solve the mystery, and the princess didn't want her as a student anymore. She idly wished on more than one occasion that the princess would have let her bring Spike along with her, she ultimately understood her reasoning, and had no choice but to agree with it.

The train arrived at it's destination right on schedule, and Twilight wasted no time departing on her journey. Though she had planned to reach the town shortly before dusk, her nerves kept her moving at a faster pace than she had anticipated. Twilight had never actually set foot in a forest before, and everything about her surroundings felt alien compared to the city she called home. Though she had guessed from what she had read across many books that the forest would be full of sounds, she was unprepared for how quiet it actually was. The sounds of her own hooves walking across the poorly maintained trail was so vivid in the oppressive silence that it felt disconcerting, and constantly reignited her fears that she was moving far too slowly. The occasional sounds of birds chirping and squirrels scurrying through the underbrush startled her constantly, and made her jump on numerous occasions, each serving as another excuse to step up her pace.

Twilight arrived in Spring Shades several hours before night fell, a testament to just how fast she had been walking.

As soon as she cleared the final treeline, she allowed her pace to slow to a more leisurely walk as she caught her breath and took in her surroundings.

Princess Celestia had described it as a small village nestled into the eastern mountains. At the time she hadn't given a great deal of thought to what it actually looked like, though now that she was actually there, she couldn't help but appreciate the scenic beauty.

The town itself stood out among the many trees of the forest, the only real clearing for quite some distance around. A small collection of houses, which Twilight estimated to be forty at most, was a welcome sight of civilization, in sharp contrast to it's surroundings as much as much as it seemed to live in harmony with the nature around it, though that wasn't what made it so beautiful.

The town was built next to a large lake, which in turn was bordered by a massive cliff face that curved around the lake in a semicircular depression before uniting with the treeline as it continued on into the horizon. Several waterfalls poured out from atop the cliff into the lake, while a small stream that ran along the base of the mountain carried the excess water away. Atop the cliff, the forest continued as if there was never even a change in elevation.

Twilight walked up to the town slowly, taking in the sights around her as she approached. Some of the sense of urgency that plagued her journey faded once she realized how early she had arrived, leaving her with a calming sense of relief, though as she neared the outer edge of the town herself she was force to acknowledge that there was still more to do yet.

For the most part, the town was silent. Nopony was wandering the streets, and at first Twilight was worried that the town had been abandoned before she arrived. It wasn't until she reached the center of town that she found ponies, though there were far fewer than she expected.

The apprehension she had felt on the train was slowly creeping back into her as she approached the closest pony she saw, a pink unicorn with a sky blue mane, a single pink stripe a shade lighter than her coat running through it. Without really having any idea what she was doing, Twilight approached her and said, “H-Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I was sent by Princess Celestia to look into the disappearances.”

The pink mare turned to face her with was could best be described as some mixture of relief and shock. For a moment she just stared at Twilight before she caught herself. “Sorry about that, it's just that... well, honestly we weren't expecting the guard to actually send somepony. My name is Misty Dew... thanks for coming all the way out here, to be honest we could use the help.”

Twilight actually managed to smile. “That's what I'm here for. If you don't mind, can you point me to whoever is in charge? I would like to get an idea of what's going on as soon as possible.”

“Oh,” Misty said, suddenly looking nervous, “well, I guess that would be me.”

Twilight paused, looking her over for a second. Misty Dew couldn't have been more than a year or two older than herself, at most. After a moment, Twilight responded, “Aren't you a little young to be running things?”

“Nopony actually runs the town,” Misty replied, “but since the disappearances started I've been taking charge and trying to keep things under control. With anypony more capable missing, I've been the only one willing to step up. I guess you could say that I'm really the only leader that's left.”

As much as she was obviously trying her best to appear confident, her nervousness was bleeding through at every possible opportunity. If she was really the most qualified pony in town, then just how bad were things?

“No offense, but you seem pretty inexperienced,” Twilight said, “Just how many ponies are missing?”

Misty sighed, “We've lost eighteen ponies since the disappearances started about a month ago, including everypony who would normally take charge in a time like this.”

Twilight paused for a moment. That was more than one pony every two days for a month. As Twilight took time to think about it, she found herself quickly discarding every one of her earlier theories as to what was causing the disappearances, as none of them could explain how that many ponies could disappear without a trace. Quite simply, nothing she had thought of was that effective.

When Twilight didn't respond, Misty seized the moment to ask a question of her own. “Not to change the subject or anything, but you're barely as old as me. Aren't you pretty young to be out here on your own”

“I'm not a foal, I can take care of myself,” Twilight replied. Upon seeing Misty's growing concern, she added, “Princess Celestia wouldn't have sent me if she didn't think I could handle myself.”

Misty looked at her for a few more seconds, before finally she sighed in defeat and said, “Well, I guess we need all the help we can get at this point, regardless of how inexperienced we are. So, welcome to Spring Shades. I'm sorry that you couldn't have arrived under better circumstances.”

“Thank you, although the circumstances are hardly your fault,” Twilight said. “I want to get caught up on the situation, but before that, do you mind if I ask where I'm going to be staying?”

“We don't actually have an inn all the way out here, so I guess you can stay with me,” Misty replied. “I'll show you where it it, then we can talk about the situation when we get there.”

Misty motioned for Twilight to follow her and started down one of the side paths away from the center of town. Twilight followed along closely behind her.

“So, what exactly have you learned so far?” Twilight asked.

“Not much,” Misty replied. “Ponies just disappear, that’s it. There’s no discernible pattern to the disappearances, no bodies have ever been found, search parties have come up with nothing. Ponies are there one day, and gone the next.”

Twilight thought for a moment, letting her eyes wander around the town as she contemplated her next question. Her gaze lingered on the waterfalls over the lake as she finally came up with a new question to ask. “You said that the ponies were here one day and not the next. Have all the disappearances happened at night?”

“As far as I know, they have,” Misty replied. “I don't know the specific details of every single disappearance, especially not the earlier ones, but as far as I know none of the disappearances have happened during the day. Even ponies that go into the forest regularly always return before dark.”

Misty stopped in front of a house next to the edge of town, and Twilight turned her attention back to her. “But at night?”

“Ponies just vanish,” Misty said. Without another word she opened the door with magic and stepped inside. Twilight followed, and Misty closed the door behind her.

The interior of the house was poorly lit, even with the evening sunlight pouring through the open windows. There was a small sofa off to the side of the room. A pegasus mare was sleeping on it, though Twilight struggled to discern her appearance in the dim light.

The rest of the room was filled by a small bookcase in the corner, a small table in front of the sofa, and a chair next to the sofa. There was an unlit lantern hanging from the ceiling, and two other doorways leading off to other rooms, presumably a bathroom and a kitchen.

“Sorry that there isn't much space, it's already a bit crowded in here.” Misty pulled out some blankets and a pillow with her magic, unfolded them, and laid them out on the floor.

“Anyway, we'll take the floor for now.” Misty sat down on the blankets. Twilight waited for a moment and sat down next to the table.

For a moment neither of them spoke. Finally Misty broke the silence and said, “I guess you want to here about the disappearances.”

Twilight nodded. “You said that ponies just vanish during the night?”

“Yeah, nopony knows exactly how it happens either. Ponies just disappear, and there's no sign of how it happens.” Misty paused, unsure of how to continue.

“Wait,” Twilight responded, “so these ponies just disappear out of their homes. There's no witnesses, nothing left behind, they're just gone?”

“Not exactly,” Misty replied. “Actually, I don't think anypony has actually disappeared out of their home. It's not exactly clear, but occasionally there have been witnesses that see ponies wandering around town at night, and always on the same night that somepony disappeared.

“After the first few times it happened, I came up with an idea. What if the ponies who disappeared weren't vanishing out of their homes like everypony thought? I came up with the idea that maybe ponies were safe in their homes, but something was luring them out. So I tested the idea by having ponies stay together at night, with at least two ponies together in each house and one pony awake to keep watch at all times.”

Misty stopped, suddenly unsure again. Twilight glanced over to the pony asleep on the sofa. “Did your plan work?”

Misty followed Twilight's eyes over to the sleeping pony, "I think it did. There's only been one disappearance in the last week. I'm not sure how it happened, but the mare he was with said that he was the one on watch for the second half of the night, and he was there when she went to sleep. Aside from that though, nopony has disappeared since ponies started staying together at night.”

Twilight smiled weakly. “It sounds like you have everything under control, right?”

“Barely,” Misty replied. “After the last disappearance, I sent another request for help to Canterlot. At least this time they finally bothered to send somepony. Aside from that, I considered having two ponies on watch at night, but the current arrangements have worked out so far. If we lose another pony I'll consider it again.”

“Alright then,” Twilight said, “I don't have any other questions for now, unless there's anything else you need to mention.”

Misty shook her head. “You know everything I do. I just hope that you'll be able to help.”

Twilight didn't reply. The two of them sat there in silence for what felt like hours. The silence was finally broken when Twilight yawned.

Misty sighed, “Right, you've probably had a long day. I'll let you get some sleep.”

She stood up and walked over to the sofa. She shook her friend awake and said something, far too quietly for Twilight to hear. The mare looked at Twilight sleepily for a second before getting up and making her way over to the blankets on the floor. Misty looked back to Twilight. “The bed is yours.”

Twilight looked at her 'bed' with nervous apprehension. An urge to ask if she could stay up for watch came over her briefly, but the fatigue from her journey reminded her that rest was more important.

“Right then,” she said, “goodnight, I guess.”

She was still restless, but as Twilight crawled onto the sofa, sleep won out. As she fell asleep, she idly hoped that the first day would be the worst of it.

Chapter 3, Nightmare

Twilight Sparkle walked alone, the darkness surrounding her granting no respite. Yet still, she walked forward, slowly, certainly, and blinded by the darkness that surrounded her. Her destination, whatever it might have been, drew her in without pause or question. The shadows on the edge of her vision gave no challenge to her steady movement. The otherworldly voices lingering in her ears did little to slow her steps. She felt confidence.

The path before her, though black as night, seemed bright and luminescent, carefully guiding her steps. Towards what, she could not know. It twisted and turned, invisible in the darkness that surrounded her, giving no contrast to the blackness all around her. Yet Twilight knew where to step, knew every corner, every turn, every step with exact precision and certain confidence. Her mind was quiet, her path defined by instinct and instinct alone, invisible to the conscious mind. She felt determination.

The path changed. Every step felt like a slope, a hill to be overcome. For all her mind knew, it may have been. The path she followed had no form, no shape, nothing to give indication to its elevation. The voices in her ears grew louder, more distinct. The shadows in the corner of her vision grew more frantic. Twilight Sparkle grew more aware of her surroundings. She felt uncertainty.

Without warning, the slope became a mountain, an impassible obstacle. Yet she was only slowed for a moment. Her awareness grew, her mind asking questions without definite answers. The voices become clear, and yet no words came from them. They tried to convince her from her path, to draw her sight and movement from the course she followed. They were familiar. Her curiosity drew her vision to the sides, yet her subconscious would not let her listen. It followed the path without question. The shadows grew restless. She felt fearful.

The path ended, and Twilight Sparkle walked forward. Words formed in her mind, questions she wanted to ask, and yet she could not. Her body was unresponsive, walking in a straight line, ignoring the shadows that stalked her closing in from the sides with ever step and every breath, or the voices growing louder with each passing moment. The familiarity became recognition, and she heard the voices of those she knew, of the princess, her brother, her parents. She desperately wanted to stop, to look around and see what the shadows surrounding her really were, and yet her body would not respond to her rebellion, her subconscious still driving her movements, even as her mind grew more awake. She felt confusion.

A light formed in the center of her vision, and hope flooded her mind without reason or explanation. The voices grew louder, more impatient, demanding that she step from her path. The shadows dances around her faster and faster, and yet she saw it. Alone among the blackness around her, her mentor stood out like a beacon of light amidst the darkness. The voices called out to her, but she didn't listen, and she wouldn't. She wanted answers, and she would get them. Her silent rebellion ended, and her conscious mind began listing questions, ignoring the voices, ignoring the shadows. She felt certainty.

She approached her mentor with questions and doubts. She stopped, and sat down. The voices went silent in an instant. Her mentor smiled down at her. She felt calm.

“My faithful student. It brightens my heart to see you safe and sound,” Princess Celestia said calmly. The voices did not interrupt. The shadows were still.

Her mind was entirely clear. Her body was her own. All of her questions came to her mind at once. Twilight asked the only one that made sense, “Princess, where are we?”

The white alicorn sat down in front of her and pulled Twilight into her embrace, wrapping her wings and forelegs around her protectively. “We are safe here my student. I shall let no harm come to you.”

“Where is here? Where are we?” asked Twilight, desperately trying to sort through the confusion of the situation.

“A place where nothing can bring you harm if you do not let it.”

Twilight shook off the sense of safety and security. She was aware now, and her mind was unclouded. The voices whispered again, and fleeting shadows danced around her. She was aware that whatever force had kept her following her path unwavering was gone, and she was free to look around whenever she was ready. Princess Celestia's words echoed in her mind, but she paid no attention to them. She had to know. She turned her head.

In a startled panic, Twilight Sparkle woke up.

Chapter 4, Answers and Questions

Twilight Sparkle shot up the moment she awoke, momentarily forgetting that she was sleeping on a small couch in a distant village rather than her bed in Canterlot. As such, she promptly rolled off of her makeshift bed in a tangled heap of blankets.

It took a few moments of panicked scrambling for her mind to catch up with her body. When it finally did, she took a few deep breaths and thought back to her nightmare. The unusually vivid dream wasn't anything that stood out as particularly frightening, being more abstract and ominous than anything else. She tried to think back to whatever had caused her to wake up at the end, but whatever terrifying experience launched her into a blind panic was eluding her.

“Are you alright,” said an unfamiliar voice, drawing Twilight out of her thoughts. For the first time that morning Twilight realized that she wasn't alone.

Twilight glanced up to see the pegasus mare from the previous night standing over her. In proper lighting, Twilight could make out her sky blue coat, silver mane, and paw print cutie mark. She looked down, trying desperately to look concerned but failing miserably to hide her amusement.

“I'm fine, just a nightmare,” Twilight replied, untangling herself from the mess of blankets that surrounded her.

“We've had a lot of those lately.”

Twilight finished pulling herself free of her bedding and stood up. “That understandable, you've been under a lot of stress over the past few weeks. It's not that unusual.”

“What about you?” she asked. It was an honest question, but it took a lot of effort on Twilight's part not to take it as an accusation.

“I’ve never been outside of Canterlot before. I'm not taking it very well,” Twilight replied. It wasn't a complete lie, but she knew that it most likely wasn't a complete truth either.

Either way, it took a lot of effort to convince herself that the mare's sympathetic smile didn't hide an accusatory glare. Twilight picked up that blankets off the floor with her magic in an effort to distract herself from the look she was being given. It wasn't a very good distraction.

“So you're the help that Canterlot sent, huh?” she asked. Twilight relaxed at the much appreciated change of subject, only to realized that the look of suspicion and accusation was most certainly not imagined this time. At least this time there was a decent explanation. After all, Misty had voice her own concerns the day before.

“I know I’m kind of young for this,” Twilight said, “but I'm not incompetent. I know what I'm doing, and I can take care of myself.”

The mare stared at Twilight for a few more seconds, then shrugged. “Fair enough. It's better than nothing at all, which all we've gotten so far. Storm Breeze, local ranger.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight replied. She offered a nervous smile, one that Storm returned with confidence.

“So, what exactly are you here to do?” Storm asked. The question felt like an accusation again, but Storm's relaxed smile was reassuring.

“Figure out what the problem is, and then solve it,” Twilight replied.

Storm looked at her for a moment. Just before the moment could get awkward she shrugged. “That's a better plan than what we've got at the moment, so I'm not going to criticize.”

The tension in the room dropped as Storm voiced her approval for Twilight, as shallow as that approval may have been.

They stood there for a moment in silence. Twilight took the moment to look around the room. With morning sunlight streaming through the windows, it far easier to make out the contents of the room. Off to the side of the table next to her, Misty slept under a pile of blankets, no doubt having taken the first shift of the night.

“So, uh,” Storm said, “I have some things to do in town today. If you don't mind tagging along, we can talk a bit more. There isn't much to do around here, and honestly I wouldn't mind having somepony to talk to.”

She glanced at Misty as she said this, and Twilight got the impression that taking shifts every night left them little time with each other. Twilight nodded. “Sure.”

“Great,” Storm replied. Without saying anything else, she practically bounded towards the door, forcing Twilight to run to keep up with her.

She stopped outside to wait for Twilight before setting off at a brisk yet reasonable pace toward the center of town.

“So what's your opinion of everything that's going on?” Twilight asked as the two set out.

Storm shrugged. “Honestly, I don't really know. Misty's the one holding the town together, and so far she's done a pretty good job of it. Most of her ideas have worked out so far, so if you want a better picture you should probably ask her.”

“I've already asked Misty,” Twilight replied. “I'm asking for your opinion.”

Storm stopped and turned to look at Twilight. She looked surprised, and Twilight got the feeling that she wasn't used to ponies asking her questions like that. She shook off her surprise and started walking again, this time a little slower.

“Honestly, I don't even know where to begin. My special talent is tracking, and out here that usually means ponies. I'm an expert at tracking thing down in the wilderness, but whatever is happening leaves absolutely no trace. No hoofprints, no signs of a struggle, no bodies, not even a single strand of hair. Normally if somepony goes missing the town expects me to be the one to find them.”

Storm went silent, trying to find a way to say what she wanted to.

“They blame you for not being able to find them,” Twilight stated. It was a blind guess, but it felt like the right direction.

“I didn't want to come out and say it like that, but you're right,” Storm replied. “It's never taken me more than a few hours to find a missing pony before, but after two weeks of sending out search parties and finding nothing everypony is convinced that there's nothing that I can do. I was already unpopular before this started, and now the one time I fail at my job is the time when it matters more than ever before.”

“Why are you unpopular?” Twilight asked. She was starting to feel as if she had some idea of how bad the situation in the town was. There was definitely an air of tension around Storm that she had never noticed before.

“Ponies feel that I'm lazy,” Storm replied simply. “Being the town's ranger isn't exactly an intense job. I help out with weather work whenever I can, but I still spend a lot of time sitting around doing nothing.”

Twilight followed along in silence, pondering what she had been told. She could easily understand Storm's situation, but that didn't make it any easier to accept. Storm was a pony who had done everything she could to help the town and make sure the missing ponies returned safely. If there was nothing that she could do, then that was not her fault.

Twilight shook herself out of her thoughts, remembering what she had originally been asking. “So, what do you think about the situation? It sounds like Misty has been handling the situation pretty well.”

“Personally,” Storm said, “I like Misty. She's probably my only real friend, so I tend to trust her with pretty much everything. I know that it looks as though she has the situation under control so far, but she's struggling. She doesn't handle pressure well, and every time something goes wrong she gets closer to breaking down and giving up entirely.”

“So you're worried about her?” Twilight asked. She picked up her pace and tried to get ahead of Storm, just so that she could see her face as she answered. It felt like something that was important to do.

Storm stopped and looked at her, more serious than she had been all morning. “Misty is not a strong pony. She's an amazing leader and probably the smartest pony in the whole town, but she is not a strong pony. These ponies need her more than anything right now, and knowing that has her on the verge of breaking down every second.”

Storm looked back over her shoulder in the direction they came from, and without a word started walking again, leaving Twilight wondering if she had said something she shouldn't have. She curse her lack of meaningful social interaction, but carried on following.

They walked through the center of town and kept going, past the curious stares of the town's ponies and onwards towards the lake in silence. Twilight used the time to think over what she knew, everything she had learned about the towns situation so far, only to realize that she still hadn't learned anything from talking to Storm. Twilight couldn't see her face, but the way she walked was a good clue that she was more upset than Twilight realized. Once again cursing her absent social skills, Twilight thought of how to start the conversation again.

“You've been kind of quiet,” Storm said, startling Twilight out of her thoughts, “are you alright?”

“I didn't want to bother you, you looked kind of upset,” Twilight replied.

Storm looked back at her with a smile, “Thank you, really. I don't meet a lot of ponies that act as considerate as you, so thank you.”

Storm stopped. They stood in front of an entrance to the forest marked by a rough and overgrown path, obviously not used very frequently.

“This isn't about me though. You came here to help, so ask whatever questions you need to.”

Twilight looked at her for a moment. Storm was right, she had done everything she could to help without success, and now it was Twilight's turn.

She took a deep breath. “What do you know about the disappearances?”

It was a fairly simple question. Twilight didn't expect a useful answer to come from it, but as far as questions go it was a good way to get some extra details.

Storm sat down on the rough grass and motions for Twilight to do the same. “Nopony knows much. It started suddenly and like any missing pony case I was the first one to try to find them. I didn't get very far before it happened again. At that point I started organizing search parties, but they didn't find anything either. A few ponies from the search parties ended up missing as well, and at that point everypony decided to drop the search and wait for the royal guard to send ponies to help.

“The disappearances kept happening. We would wake up and find that somepony else had gone missing. We kept sending requests to Canterlot but never heard anything back. It was Misty who eventually figured out the pattern and came up with a solution.”

Twilight sat down next to Storm, gazing out over the lake. “What was the pattern she found?”

“One pony at a time, only at night,” Storm replied, “Her idea was to put ponies together in small groups to keep track of one another, and hopefully figure out what was responsible for the disappearances. She worked out pretty quickly that ponies who were together stayed safe, and ponies who were alone or had nopony on watch kept going missing.”

“So she found that the solution was to take shifts keeping watch?” Twilight asked.

Storm nodded. “Keeping ponies together in pairs worked, as long as one pony was on watch at all times. She wanted to have groups of three or more, with two ponies on watch at a time, but I manged to convince her to start at pairs and see if that worked first. She's not happy about it, especially after the last disappearance was the pony who was supposed to be on watch, but for what it's worth she was right about her idea.”

Twilight didn't say anything for a moment. Her question had revealed a lot more than she had expected, but she still knew little more than she started with. Most of what she had learned was about Misty and the measures she had taken to protect the town, but it all led to a single conclusion. The solution they had in place was temporary at best.

That led Twilight to her next question. “What do you know about the cause? Misty seemed to think that ponies were being lured out somehow.”

Storm sighed, and Twilight got the distinct feeling this had been brought up before.

“Misty is convinced that somehow ponies are wandering off, but nopony else thinks that's the case. Most likely whatever it is causing the disappearances comes out at night and doesn't like drawing attention to itself.”

“Anything else?” Twilight asked. Storm shook her head.

Twilight had learned pretty much noting about the problem from that conversation, but it was more than she had before. She wanted to at least narrow down the possible causes before trying to come up with a list of ideas, but she still had almost nothing to go on. She decided that it would be best if she took some time to think over what she knew before asking any further questions.

“That all I can really think to ask at the moment,” Twilight said, “I'll let you know if I think of anything else, but there isn't much to go on right now.”

They waited in silence for a few minutes, neither of them having anything else to contribute. Finally Twilight said, “Didn't you say you had things to do in town today?”

Storm sighed and stood up. “I was going to go out into the forest and look for more clues actually, but I don't expect anything to come of it. Do you want to come with me? Maybe you'll have better luck.”

“Sure,” Twilight replied, standing up and following Storm once again. She could have gone back to town and waited for Misty to wake up, but she wanted to help.

Twilight and Storm made their way back to town about an hour before sunset. The two of them hadn't found anything after an entire day of searching, but they had made every effort. Twilight's magical talent had proven to Storm that she was more than capable of helping, despite not actually finding anything.

After a quick stop at the lake to clean themselves before heading back, the pair walked through town. They were both tired, but they agreed that it was better than having made no effort at all.

On the way back Twilight decided to bring up an idea that she had been thinking about for most of the day.

“Hey Storm,” she said, “Would you mind if I took the first shift on watch tonight?”

Storm smiled at her, “You don't have to take a shift if you don't want to, Twilight.”

“It's not that,” Twilight replied, “I wanted to take some time to work on some ideas. Besides, I want to contribute. It's not fair if I just sleep all night while you two do all the work.”

Storm shrugged. “Misty usually takes the first shift, but if you want to help she can probably take second. Just make sure that if you feel like you're about to doze off you wake her up, alright.”

As it turned out, Misty had actually had the same idea as Twilight. Like Storm, she gave Twilight the option to refuse if she wanted to, but Twilight insisted.

About an hour after sunset, Misty and Storm were soundly sleeping on the floor, having opted after an argument over who got to sleep on the couch to share the floor and leave the couch for Twilight at the end of her shift. Twilight spent the time reading through a book on scrying and tracking spells in hopes of coming up with some way of tracking the location of the missing ponies.

Most of the book was unhelpful, with the spells requiring components she lacked or familiarity with the spell's target that she couldn't provide. A few of the spells were usable, but the only one that would work would require some mane or tail hair from the target for the spell to track them. It wouldn't help them find the ponies who had already gone missing, as even if they found hairs they would be useless if they were more than a little over a week old. Twilight made a note to collect hairs from the remaining ponies and look into the last pony who disappeared, who Misty said had vanished less than a week ago.

Twilight set down her notes and sighed. She desperately wanted to help these ponies, but didn't have any idea of where to start. She had hoped that she would have at least a few ideas by morning as to what was causing the disappearances, if only so she didn't have to tell the ponies of the town that she was as clueless as they were. The only idea she had so far was to evacuate the town, and even then she couldn't be certain that would solve the problem.

Deciding she needed a break from her notes Twilight stood up and stretched. Deciding that more coffee wouldn't hurt, she made her way out to Misty's kitchen.

Five minutes later she sat staring out the window, her coffee sitting on the kitchen table as she considered what she could do. She stared out of the moonlit streets of the town of Spring Shades, not quite knowing what to do.

Then she saw something moving towards the lake. Surprised, Twilight squinted, trying to make out what she was looking at in the dim moonlight. It was far to large to be an animal. It was the right size to be a pony, but it looked wrong. Twilight leaned closer to the window.

Then whatever it was stopped moving. It's head turned toward Twilight, and it's glowing red eyes met her own.

Startled, Twilight held her breath, staring at the creature as the creature stared back.

Then she blinked, and it was gone. Twilight let out the breath she had been holding. Breathing heavily, she stared at the spot the mysterious creature had occupied seconds ago.

Then she blinked again, and when her eyes opened again, she saw the creature's glowing red eyes directly in front of her.

With a scream, Twilight Sparkle threw herself away from the kitchen window.

Chapter 5, Tension

Twilight screamed, desperately trying to pull herself away from the window that she had stared out only seconds before. She didn't care that she was on her back, scrambling along the floor in a blind fright. Her only thoughts were to get away from whatever terrifying monster stood just beyond the walls.

“Twilight!” called out a voice from behind her. She could just barely make out the sound of hooves as the two other ponies present in the house at the time sprinted into the kitchen from the next room over.

Storm showed up first, grabbing Twilight from behind and holding her tightly, her eyes darting around the room as she tried to make out whatever threat had startled their sleepless guardian. Misty took a single look around the kitchen, and upon noting no obvious threat made her way quickly to the window, looking outside for anything out of place.

She saw nothing.

“Twilight, are you okay?” Storm said from behind her, breaking her out of her daze. She looked up at the window, expecting to see something. With Misty standing in front of it though, she couldn't see anything. She quickly realized that the pink pegasus had moved between her and the window without her even having noticed. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

“I... I saw something... something outside,” Twilight replied unsteadily. “It looked at me.. it was right there!”

Misty looked back at the panicking unicorn. “Twilight, I can't see anything out there, are you sure you saw something?”

Twilight paused, not because she suddenly doubted that she had seen something, but because she wasn't sure how to explain what she saw.

“I don't know what it was... it was kind of hard to see,” Twilight said, “But I definitely saw something. It was moving, and I could see its eyes. I lost sight of it for a second and then it was right next to the window.”

“What did it look like?” Misty asked. Twilight could hear the skepticism in her voice, even if she tried to hide it. Storm just responded by holding her more tightly.

“Like a pony, sort of,” Twilight replied, “It looked a bit off, but I couldn't see very well. It's eyes were red though, and they glowed a little.”

Misty was about to respond, but Storm cut her off. “So you saw something odd walking around outside, you lost track of it for a few seconds, and suddenly it was right in front of you and you panicked?”

Twilight nodded. Misty looked like she was going to say something else but Storm cut her off again. “Don't even say anything! So far all you've done is criticize the rest of us for accomplishing nothing, and the moment somepony see's something interesting you dismiss her efforts without even letting her speak! So far Twilight has done more than anypony else in the entire town, including you! At least she's trying to help instead of cowering in a house somewhere and dismissing the efforts of the ponies trying to do something!”

Storm glared furiously at Misty, who stood in front of them in complete shock. Twilight just laid against Storm, not knowing how to react to the tense standoff that she was literally in the middle of. It looked like there was some deeper conflict between to two mares, and Twilight had been the spark needed to bring it out.

Twilight liked Misty, she was generous and seemed as though she done her best given the situation. She also like Storm, who had stood strong in the chaos and kept searching even weeks after she realized there was nothing to be found.

When it came to her choice of how to respond however, there was only one way to answer.

“So that's it,” Twilight said, eyes narrowing, “You haven't even tried to do something? Are you content to just sit around while the situation gets worse? It's one thing not to be able to do anything, but just dismissing the efforts of the ponies that try while the disappearances keep happening... have the ponies of this town really done so little?”

Twilight looked over her shoulder at Storm. The intense glare she held against Misty told her everything that she wanted to know, and Twilight did not like the answer she found.

Misty stared at them, anger building in her expression. “You can't just wander into town one day and expect to understand. You haven't been here!”

“I don't need to be here,” Twilight replied coldly. “I know what any good pony would do, and I can't even make a comparison because you haven't done a single thing about the problem. Name one thing you've done other than sit around in groups and ignore the efforts of ponies that have actually tried.”

Misty hesitated. Twilight didn't bother waiting for an answer.

“You haven't done anything. In fact, you've actively dismissed every attempt so far. There's a difference between not trying to help and trying not to help. You're not ignoring the problem, you're intentionally trying to make it worse!”

She hadn't quite intended to go as far as she had, and yet she still wondered if her accusations hadn't gone far enough. It got her point across though

For a moment, Misty's expression became an unreadable mix of shock, anger, fear, and regret.

Then with hatred beyond what Twilight had thought the friendly pink pegasus to be capable of, she glared at them.

“Get out.”

Their eyes widened.

“As soon as it's morning, you're leaving. Both of you.”

She stood up and walked past the stunned pair. As soon as she was out of the room, Storm relaxed her grip on Twilight. Twilight took the opportunity to sit up on her own.

“I'm sorry,” Twilight said, her eyes never meeting Storm's as she stared at her coffee. The pair of them sat around the table in the kitchen, Twilight holding her cup of coffee in her hooves while Storm did the same with a glass of water.

Storm sighed. “Twilight, as much as I didn't want this to happen, it had to be said.”

She reached over the table and set her hoof on Twilight's foreleg. For the first time since they had sat down Twilight looked up.

“I don't understand though,” Twilight said, “you seemed like such good friends, and you just started fighting. It was so sudden, I don't understand what happened. It was a pretty sharp change.”

Storm looked at her with pure intensity. “Twilight, stressful situations can hurt friendships sometimes, I get that. This has been building up since the moment this situation started. Misty is a natural leader, but she doesn't know what she's doing. She's content to ignore the problem and do nothing while ponies keep vanishing. You were right when you said she was intentionally making the problem worse, because even if she doesn't see it that way, she is.”

“So what now,” Twilight asked, too nervous to meet Storm's eyes again. She tried to hide her face in her half empty cup of coffee while she waited for Storm's reply.

“Well, I know a few ponies that probably wouldn't mind us getting together now that Misty kicked us out,” Storm answered. “Aside from that though, the only thing we can do is to keep trying. Come up with anything yet?”

Twilight looked up and smile weakly. “Yes, sort of. I found a spell for tracking ponies, but there's a minor complication. It require a piece of hair from their mane or tail, and it needs to be less than a week old.”

“Sounds like an answer, but how do we put it to use?” Storm asked.

“My only idea is to collect hairs from everypony in town every few days until somepony else disappears,” Twilight said. “I'm still looking for more ideas, but that's the most feasible method I've found so far. Almost every tracking spell I've found so far has required some materials I don't have access to, except for this one. It requires the hairs to have been collected less than a week ago, give or take a few days, but I can do it.”

“I don't like the idea of waiting for somepony else to vanish,” Storm replied, “but if it works then there's no reason not to try, right?”

Twilight smiled. “I don't plan on just waiting. I'll try to find a better answer in the meantime, but if I cant find a better answer, this should work.”

Storm smiled back. “Just keep looking, I know you'll try your best. In the meantime, I'm going to go back to sleep. I'll wake you up in morning and we'll find somewhere else to stay. At worst we'll head back to my place, but a group is better than a pair.”

Storm gave her a confident, friendly smile and made her way out of the kitchen. With nothing better to do Twilight picked up her book on tracking spells and kept reading, looking for anything that could be of use.

Twilight woke to Storm gently but firmly shaking her awake.

“Come on, it's morning,” she said. “It's probably best if we leave before Misty wake's up.”

Twilight shook herself awake and got up from where she was sleeping, and began collecting her things into her saddlebags.

About ten minutes later however, just before they were ready to leave, a loud, knocking at the door. Misty groaned in annoyance as she sat up and looked towards the door, stopping briefly to glare at Storm.

Storm answered the door, revealing a panicking stallion. Before anypony could ask what was wrong, he said, “Quiet Dreams disappeared last night.”