DaNCeR (A Marble Hornets Inspired Story)

by ace_attorneyfan800

Rating: teen
Tags: Horror, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Colgate, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other, Thriller, Mystery, Moondancer, Spike
Length: 6818

Moondancer has gone missing. No clues seem to point to an obvious suspect, and no one seems to know where she could've gone. Twilight now takes it upon herself to find Moondancer and uncover the mystery behind her disappearance.

Moondancer has gone missing. No clues seem to point to an obvious suspect, and no one seems to know where she could've gone. Twilight now takes it upon herself to find Moondancer and uncover the mystery behind her disappearance. But will she like the journey that awaits her? Will she even WANT to know the answers after all is said and done? Just WHO or WHAT is this Operator Moondancer's strange drawings keep referring to? And just what connection does it have to do with cameras?

(This is a Marble Hornets inspired story and has no connection to the actual web series other than the Operator, similar names, and themes. The story has been rated Teen for the use of blood, horrifying imagery, suggestive themes, and violence. The time period for when the fic takes place is never specifically stated but is left up to the reader's interpretation for if it takes place Post Twilicorn or not, though considering what's about to take place, it's best to assume this story takes place in an alternate universe as a safety precaution.)

Published 2017-11-11 07:20:06 UTC
Last updated 2017-11-11 19:34:08 UTC

Find #1

Twilight looked through the drawings as she kept thinking about Moondancer's disappearance. It was one thing for a foal to go missing, but one of her closest foalhood friends? It didn't make any sense to her. She kept looking through the pile until eventually coming upon one that peeked her interest. It was a circle with an X through it saying, "ARK AWAITS".

"Ark? What ark?" Twilight asked herself before looking through the drawings again for anything related to an ark

There wasn't anything in the drawings talking about an ark, but then she looked at Moondancer's diary. The other thing the police and guards gave her to look at. Flipping through the pages Twilight came upon an entry that was just an S drawn hugely and hastily from the looks of things. Why would Moondacer write just an S? The next page was just a regular diary entry. Then, it dawned upon Twilight the position of the S. That wasn't an S. It was the sign of sigma. But maybe it wasn't even sigma. Taking a closer look, it actually looked more like stigmata.

But what did stigmata have to do with an ark? Twilight then began to look through the footage on the cameras and from what she saw, a lot it was recorded during some kind of rainstorm. Rainstorm. Ark. Stigmata. There seemed to be some kind of pattern. But that needed further research. For now Twilight began to take a closer look at the footage Moondancer seemed to have taken. Not a lot seemed to show her face, which made sense to Twilight since Moondancer always had been the sort to take footage rather than be in it. But what was weird was a lot of it seemed to be her recording her daily routine. But why?

It wasn't until she found one piece of footage that wasn't in the rain that Twilight found something. The footage was somewhat blurry and the audio was missing, but Twilight could've sworn she saw a faceless pony in the background wearing a black suit and tie. It probably was a technical glitch as these new portable video cameras were prone to glitching out sometimes because of how they used data to record instead of tapes or film rolls. But Twilight did make a mental note of it either way just in case she found another instance of a faceless pony.

Twilight immediately stopped when she heard a page turn. She looked to see Moondancer's Diary had turned seemingly on its own to the next page. Though next page did contain a very interesting note. "SEES ME" "I CAN'T SEE IT". Twilight then turned to the next page to see there was a similar style. "IT HURTS" "FEELS LIKE DROWNING". It hurts... feels like drowning. Twilight then turned another page. ..... Nothing. Twilight turned another page. "everything's fine". This was the last entry before Moondancer disappeared. That last entry was clearly a lie. Everything wasn't fine. Something seemed to be stalking Moondancer, but she couldn't see who or what it was. On top of that, something was hurting her, and that pain felt like as if she was drowning. There seemed to also be a strange amount of rain symbolism on top of a mentioning of an ark and the stigmata symbol. Twilight wrote down a single note and put it to her bed before putting up the drawings, diary, and camera and heading to bed. Maybe Minuette would provide some of the answers she needed.

Author's Note

Twilight's Notes:
-Stigmata
-Mentioning of an ark
-A lot of rain footage
-A Faceless pony (Possibly a glitch)
-Moondancer wrote a lie saying everything was fine when she seemed to be having some problems
-Moondancer seemed to be in a sort of pain that made her feel like as if she was drowning

Find #2 - Interview with Minuette

When Twilight arrived at Minuette's house she began knocking on her door. Eventually, it was answered and Twilight was let in.

"Twilight! How's the search going? Did you find anything?" Minuette asked

"Actually I came to ask you some questions Minuette." Twilight said before sitting down at a coffee table

"Oh... well, I'll tell you whatever I know." Minuette replied as she sat down at the opposite end

"Well, what did you know about Moondancer before she disappeared?" Twilight asked

"Before she disappeared? Well, I know she liked the video cameras when they came out. The girl was practically a techie with one of those things, she'd always be recording anything interesting she found. 'Like to catch the moment as it happens' she'd reply."

"Well did you notice anything STRANGE about what she was doing with them? Anytime she liked to point the camera at rain in particular?"

"Well, not really."

"Well, did you ever notice her acting stranger than normal after a while with those cameras? Like, her recording her daily routines and such?"

"Well, on occasions there were some times when she'd pull out the camera and just never stop recording. Though it was around that time that I think she began acting a little stranger than usual."

"Like, what do you mean?"

"She seemed to be acting like as if she was being followed, she'd sometimes mumble to herself that it could see her but she couldn't see it. That sort of thing. Occasionally though if she was running out of battery she'd change it like as if her life depended on it and if she took too long to change the battery she'd start to get really paranoid and if she took long enough to not find a battery she'd just straight up run away."

"That's... interesting. Makes it sound like her life depended on those cameras."

"I think she said that once. Like her life depended on her keeping a camera rolling at all times. We'd ask her why and all she'd reply with is it can see me, but I can't see it without this camera."

"Y-you mean like some kind of force that you can't see without some kind of camera?"

"Maybe. She did look like she hadn't slept for quite a while though so she could've been hallucinating. She started having bangs under her eyes, she started acting a lot jumpier, and she even started losing track of her appetite. Eventually from what I understand from the others is that this obsession got so bad that she started making those drawings that you have, and eventually that mural found in her home the day it was discovered she went missing."

"Who made the report anyways?"

"I did."

"You did?"

"Yeah, I mean I just stopped by to see how Moondancer was doing since it had been a couple of weeks since anypony last heard from her. When I arrived the door's lock was... broken. There didn't seem to be any sign of a struggle or anything. She just seemed too straight up disappear."

"Well, do you know who else could be linked to Moondancer that might shed some light on her reasons for disappearing? Well... unless you might know why."

"Unfortunately no. All I know is what I told you."

"Well, do you know anyone who might know why she could've disappeared like this?"

"I think maybe Lyra knows. She was usually more in contact with her than I was."

"Like how much in contact exactly?"

"I'd say a pretty fair amount. Despite the fact they lived in separate towns they managed to keep in contact with each other as often as they could by exchanging teleport letters like you and Spike do with Celestia."

"Was there ever a time when that contacting slowed down? Like, did Moondancer and Lyra have a moment where they stopped talking to each other?"

"Not really. The only time it seemed to slow down was before that couple of weeks she disappeared. Lyra was apparently moving houses and she'd be unable to speak for a while."

"Do you know if Lyra managed to get back into contact with Moondancer?"

"Not really. After that little move, Lyra apparently had to take it slow on the contact with Moondancer because her new job required her to be mentally focused a lot. I mean considering she works for Bon Bon who's been actively competing against Pinkie Pie of all ponies is quite the situation to get yourself into."

"Well do you know where I can possibly get in contact with her?"

"Not really, apparently Lyra's not really been feeling too good. I think Bon Bon once said during one of my visits to Ponyville that Lyra felt like she was drowning or something."

"Well, if you say so." Twilight sighed

Twilight then made a mental note to speak with Lyra as soon as she could after her little interview had ended. Whatever it was that was stalking Moondancer seemed to have left an imprint on Lyra as well, as Lyra seemed to be suffering the same sort of feeling Moondancer had about "drowning".

Author's Note

Twilight's Notes:
-Moondancer seemed to see something that only could be seen with the cameras
-Whatever was stalking Moondancer seemed to push her into a state of insomnia and made her more quick to panic. Especially if she couldn't find a battery for her cameras
-Lyra was in contact with Moondancer up until she disappeared, meaning Lyra probably knows what might've caused Moondancer to disappear
-Lyra seemed to be coming down with the same feeling of drowning Moondancer had

Find #3

Twilight soon arrived at Lyra's house. The front door was locked and she even tried knocking a few times to get no response. Twilight then tried the back door to find it wide open. Upon entering she noticed that the house had been ransacked. Papers were torn all over the place, the furniture was smashed and turned over, this was the state Twilight expected Moondancer's house to be in. Not Lyra's.

"Lyra? Moondancer? Anypony home?" Twilight called as she entered the establishment, closing the door behind her

Twilight began to tread carefully among the scene to make sure if anything like a glass was broken she wouldn't step in it and cut herself. However, upon coming to upstairs Twilight began to suffer a coughing fit and found herself on the floor because of it. It didn't last long though as she quickly picked herself up and headed for the bathroom. There was blood in the sink. Twilight took a closer look and it was dried blood, meaning either something happened to Lyra or Lyra was trying something with a razor again. Twilight secretly hoped it was the latter.

Though upon entering Lyra's bedroom it began to look like the former option more. Lyra's bedroom was just as ransacked as the bellow floor. However, something caught Twilight's eye. Three things actually. A pill bottle that contained some meds still in it, but the label was ripped off. A guard's spearhead. And a few drawings that looked to be made by Moondancer. Twilight took all three of them and tried looking through the other rooms only to find all the doors locked. Twilight soon returned home and went to bed-

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Twilight immediately woke up and went to check on what she found at Lyra's house. The pill bottle was empty. The spearhead was missing too. But the drawings she found were okay. Speaking of, since she was awake she decided to take a closer look at them. "SeeS Me, aT THe CaSTLe"

"Sees me, at the castle?" Twilight asked herself out loud

Twilight then took a closer look at the back and saw another message. "WHeRe THe TWo SiSTeRS ReSiDe". Twilight began to ponder and immediately came to the conclusion it had to be the castle of the two sisters the sentence was referring to. It's the only place that was remote enough for anyone to do anything without acting suspiciously in any way. Twilight made a mental note to take a trip to the castle once she got through analyzing the drawings. The other was just that of a tree with a circle and an X through it like the Operator. But the next one was three circles with an X through each of them. That raised some eyebrows. Twilight had seen the symbol before after looking through the other drawings after seeing the Operator drawing, but never more than one. Twilight put that drawing off to the side before moving on to the next one.

The next one was of the faceless pony again among a series of trees. The final one was the elements of harmony drawn as they usually are depicted as on the stain glass windows, except all of them are crossed out with a circle and X through them. All of them except for the element of Magic. Twilight became very perplexed by what she was looking at. Why would somepony take the time to draw the elements of harmony, and trace them all out except for the element of magic? Was it meant to symbolize something Twilight wasn't understanding? Twilight began to feel her head starting to hurt and decided to continue on with her investigating in the morning. She laid the papers aside and headed to the bathroom where she took some aspirin and went to bed. Thought that night she did have some trouble falling asleep because, despite the aspirin, Twilight could've sworn she felt a slight breeze pass by her back.

Author's Note

Twilight's Notes:
-Lyra looked to have been attacked, her house was completely ransacked
-There seemed to be a somewhat full pill bottle in Lyra's house with its label missing as well as some drawings that looked to belong to Moondancer
-Lyra seems to have disappeared as well
-The pills from the pill bottle are missing, and I don't remember ever getting up to take them
-The spearhead seems to be missing as well
-I have another lead that's taking me to the castle of the two sisters
-Another drawing seems to want me to pay attention only to the element of magic for some reason

Find #5

Twilight soon arrived back at her bedroom and started to look through the footage. The camera had started just as Twilight had picked it up, and the static and buzzing was still there. However, when the camera turned around, the faceless pony from Moondancer's drawings could be seen. The camera then glitched up as Twilight was teleported.... underwater?

"I-I wasn't teleported underwater... I would've remembered being wet..." Twilight muttered to herself

The footage then cut, more like glitched out, to Twilight walking through the nearby forest going into a coughing fit before jumping to her running down the trail and tripping back into the woods. Twilight suffered another coughing fit before seemingly being teleported underneath a Canterlot street lamp at night. Twilight got to her knees and coughed up some blood before being teleported underwater again. The footage then glitched to Twilight screaming her lungs off as she was being dragged through the leafs by an unseen force. Twilight tried to hold on to a tree but was forced to let go and the footage glitched one last time to Twilight coming out a lake and coughing like no tomorrow. She then lied underneath a tree and tried to catch her breath before the footage glitched one last time to the camera pointing at an unconscious Twilight outside the castle of the two sisters.

The footage strangely ended in a message. "DiD You See Me? i SaW You". Twilight practically jumped when she heard a knocking at the front door. Twilight quickly went to answer it, only to find a package she quickly took to her room. The package inside was a letter. From someone named totheark.

"So MuCH MoRe THaN TiMe HaS BeeN TaKeN. DoN'T TRy To LooK. DoN'T TRy To LiSTeN. LeSS you eND uP BRoKeN LiKe a CeRTaiN MaRe".

But that was on the front. On the back...

"DaNCeR, PLayeR, DRiLLeR, FiRe, iNVeSTiGaToR, aMMoNG THe LiST iS you"

But, that was on the top of the back. In the middle...

"LiaR, uNTRuSTWoRTHy, SeCReTS, WiTHHoLDiNG, uNSTaBLe, BuT THiS DeSCRiBeS eiTHeR".

And finally...

"CoMe BaCK To THe HouSe, CoMe aND See WHeRe you FiT iN".

It became clear to Twilight that totheark wanted Twilight to return to Lyra's house. For what she was uncertain of. But whoever totheark is, seems to be connected with Moondancer's disappearance and judging by the name, a connection to the stigmata and ark mystery.

Author's Note

Twilight's Notes:
-Whatever it was that the camera picked seemed to be able to erase memories from my mind, I don't remember what happened to the footage happening at all
-Someone under the name totheark seems to be trying to help me find Moondancer, but judging from the letter, it's impossible to tell if he or she is on my side or not
-totheark wants me to return to Lyra's house, for what or why is unclear, either way, it probably would be in my best interest to return to Lyra's

inFd 8#

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Find #9

Twilight awoke the next morning and got out of bed. After taking a trip to the doctor she looked at the footage from last night. The faceless pony was in her house last night, and she had apparently suffered some sort of coughing and seizure.

"But... that's not how I remember it happening...." Twilight said to herself, "I remember punching the mirror in frustration and going straight to bed."

Twilight decided to take a look around her house to see if anything had changed. Unfortunately, to her dismay, nothing seemed to have been moved around or even stolen. Twilight sighed before heading back to her bedroom. Maybe the lack of sleep was just starting to make her hallucinate-

"Wait.... What? Why's my closet open?" Twilight asked herself

Twilight went over to the closet and found nothing out of the ordinary except for a note that seemed to be written by totheark and looked to be a continuation of something.

"...WHaT you THiNK iS THe TRuTH MiGHT NoT Be THe ReaL TRuTH".

Twilight felt like as if the message was intended for not just her, but for someone else. Whoever it was, was another question for another time. Twilight decided to return to Lyra's house one last time. This time in broad daylight. To her surprise, the front door was wide open. Someone was definitely here this time. But when Twilight entered, she didn't even bother to ask if anyone was home, because at this point she just asking it would yield no results. Twilight went up to the second floor to find the doll from the last time she was here at the top. Not only that. The bathroom door was open. Twilight went inside to investigate, but to her surprise, the sink was no longer filled with blood. It was as clean as a gemstone. Twilight was about to leave the room when a sudden sound made her turn around and see the masked figure from last time looking at her.

Twilight gave chase and followed it into the bedroom from last time, only to be locked out by the time the masked figure left the room. Twilight gave chase... only to end up back in the bathroom.

"What? Whow the? When did I get in- wasn't I?!" Twilight stuttered

This made no sense to her. Something was going on. Twilight turned to leave... but found herself in the bedroom again. Not only that, but it was night time to boot. And dead midnight as well.

"Is- is that outside?!" Twilight panicked

Twilight then began to leave only to find herself in a closet of some kind. Turning she opened the door only to be met with the mask of the one Twilight was giving chase to in the first place. Bypassing it Twilight exited out the front door only to... find herself in an abandoned burned out basement.... wait... she recognized this place...

"Th-this is Moondancer's house! Wh-why's everything burnt?! Why am I even in her basement?!" Twilight panicked

The sound of a beeping noise caught her attention. Twilight followed the sound to what looked to be a somewhat broken video recorder. Twilight at this point was starting to shake. The air felt cold, her chest was starting to hurt. Quickly pulling out her video recorder she turned it on to-

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Twilight boarded her windows and slept the rest of the day with the lights on as well as her camera system running all day. Whatever was on the broken video recorder would have to wait.

Find #11

Twilight soon discovered what she believed to be the Maintenence tunnel Moondancer was in before burning down her house. It definitely seemed to match the profile. Casting an illumination spell and activating her video camera Twilight entered in hopes of finding anything related to Moondancer or what could've happened to her. After what felt like a long time walking, she eventually came upon a split in the path. However, the side road lead to a folder and the doll from Lyra's house. The folder had "LiaR" written on it with a circle and X through it.

Taking a look inside of the folder Twilight found medical records. Of Minuette no less. Taking them and the doll Twilight began to high tail it out of the maintenance tunnel. Surprisingly enough, nothing was chasing her or waiting for her. She got off scot-free. However, when she returned back to her bedroom she was saddened by the medical files. Some of the information was redacted. And redacted well. Either way, Twilight would get to the bread and butter of the medical folders even if a lot of useful information was pretty much gone. The first form was a pediatric admission profile from 1990... something. Source of information was listed as Minuette's mother Colgate, the reason for admission's chief complaints was insomnia, headache, possible disorder. Twilight had no idea what that last one was as it was extremely vague as to what it meant by a possible disorder.

Minuette seemed to be prescribed an anticonvulsant as a seizure and right under it explained that Minuette had a history of falls, which Twilight guessed had something to do with seizures. But this didn't sound right. Twilight had known Minuette for most of her life. How could Minuette have seizures? Then again she also remembered nowadays even her memories aren't safe from whatever it was that attacked her. Under pain history assessment, on a scale of one to ten, said his pain was at a 6 from frequent headaches. There also seemed to be an emotional barrier to learning though Twilight couldn't understand that one in the slightest.

The next form was a pediatric admission assessment. Chief complaints looked to be the same, headache, insomnia, and a third one... was it more specific then possible disorder? We don't know. She'd never know either because it was redacted. Next page at the bottom asked questions like do you feel safe in your home and are you afraid of anyone, apparently, she answered yes at first but then changed it to no. Under comfort, rest, and sleep it said she was unable to fall asleep easily, averaging about four hours at night, the pain was still listed as a six out of ten. Pain location was the head, usually about two to four hours, chronic, greater than six months, aggravated by talking....

"I'm... not sure what that could mean..." Twilight said to herself

The next to last page made note that she ran away from home two... somethings ago. Could've been days, weeks, months, hours, minutes, but it did say she was found in the maintenance tunnel. The last page was a fall risk assessment, with checks next to confused, disoriented, hallucinating, combative, and also a medical history of syncope, seizures, and postural hypotension. Seizures underlined. Next was a delayed therapy communication form from 2000.... something... only reason given is patient or family uncooperative. Everything else that could've been of use had been redacted.

Next was a brief operative progress note. Everything on it was entirely redacted except for the month and day, October 10th. Everything else... gone... redacted.

"Why in the name of- why was this one even in here?!" Twilight groaned, "Was whoever left these for me trying to intimidate me with the symbol on it, trying to tell me that Minuette was in some kind of surgery?! And if so, what for?! I don't even know..."

The last form was a suicide or self-harm assessment tool. Minuette scored a fourteen, which was considered a high risk. Says unwilling to contract or unable to contract because of impaired reality testings. Hallucinations underlined. Symptoms, hopelessness, anger or rage, and anhedonia. And with Twilight, being the bookworm she was, knew what it meant. Unable to experience happiness or pleasure from things. Also, replies were questionable, so Twilight didn't really know if she was lying about anything on this form in particular.

Then, under all those forms was a single picture that almost sent Twilight into panic mode. In fact, it did as she closed her windows and took one look at the photo. It was of Twilight outside the castle of the two sisters the day she found the camera. And on the back, there was only one word that made Twilight unable to sleep that night.

"WATCHING".

Author's Note

Twilight's Notes"
-I'm being watched
-Minuette's been dealing with this far longer than either Moondancer or me, she is a liar
-I plan on finding her and getting the truth out of her

Introduction

Ponies had a tendency to go missing in Equestria. Usually, it was a foal that had a major disagreement with its parents. Or a foal that tried to escape an abusive home or even an orphanage. Those were usually the types of ponies that you would see missing posters for.

But never in all my life would I have seen a missing poster for Moondancer.

Nopony knows just what happened to her. She seemed to have just straight up disappeared. The only clue that could be found in her home was a drawing of some faceless pony with some trees, on top of her room being filled to the brim with all kinds of weird drawings.

Not even a letter explaining why she would've gone missing, or any clues towards a sign of a kidnapping.

With Moondancer being one of my closest friends, I asked to be involved in the investigation and was granted permission.

The only thing the police and royal guard gave me were some things related to Moondancer that seemed to coincide with her disappearance, including video recording devices.

I don't know what I'll find among all this, but I hope by the end of this Moondancer will finally be back with us.

Whether I like the answers I'm gonna get or not.

Twilight Sparkle

Find #4

Twilight soon found herself outside the abandoned castle. After the construction of Canterlot, the castle of the two sisters was abandoned and forgotten about. Twilight entered through the front doors and cast an illumination spell from her horn to light up the area. The castle looked like it had seen better days. The ceiling was cracked and started leaking water from last night's rainstorm, the tapestry was molded and falling apart, and the furniture was either smashed and destroyed or molded and riddled with holes. The stench was horrible too, but Twilight knew she had to keep going if she had any plans for locating Moondancer. But her only question was where to go from there.

She soon got her answer when a door from nearby fell down seemingly on its own. Twilight investigated and found some blood on the walls. It was dry, but at the same time, it looked relatively fresh as well. Someone was through here recently, and whatever happened to them seemed to have injured them.

"Moondancer? Lyra?" Twilight called out into hallway only to get her voice echo

She really wished she had brought Spike along with her, but maybe it would've been for the best if he didn't come. This place was too dangerous for someone like him. Following the hallway, Twilight came upon... a dead end. But a dead end that yielded results. There was a note in white chalk written on the walls along with a video camera on the ground. "See WHaT SHe SeeS". Twilight picked up the camera and turned it on. The screen was acting all fuzzy and there seemed to be even a slight buzzing from it to boot. Twilight thought it needed some work so she turned around-

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Twilight awoke outside the castle with a massive headache. She had no idea what happened, but she quickly picked up the camera and ran away.

Author's Note

Twilight's Notes:
-I don't know what happened after I picked up the camera
-Gonna check camera's film for results

Find #6

Twilight soon returned to Lyra's house. She once again tried the front door, but it was still locked. Sighing she went around to the back. This time the back door was wide open. Someone was here. Twilight quickly went inside. The inside looked worse than it did when she last left it.

"Hello?!" Twilight called out to the house, "Who's here?! totheark?!"

Twilight once again got no reply. The no replying thing was really starting to get on Twilight's nerves, not to mention creeping her out as well. Twilight then went deeper into the house and saw a doll at the base of the front door. Twilight went to pick it up, only to hear a noise, and turned to see a pony wearing a white mask and wearing a hood to cover their full face sitting on the now turned back up sofa. Twilight couldn't even see if it was a colt or mare that was hiding behind the mask. Even the cutie mark was covered up.

"Hello?" Twilight called out, "Are you totheark? Moondancer? Is it you?"

The pony got up from the sofa and charged for Twilight. Twilight got into a little bit of a struggle but ultimately won when the pony backed off, fell to the floor, and got into a seizure fit. Once it stopped Twilight went to remove the mask to see who it was, but was kicked off and high tailed it out of there as fast as she could-

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Twilight awoke the next morning near a bridge crossing over a stream. Something dangerous was going on, and Twilight was secretly regretting ever getting involved with it.

Author's Note

Twilight's Notes:
-I returned to Lyra's house only to get attacked by some masked pony
-Something dangerous is going on, and it might go deeper than Moondancer simply disappearing, I'm starting to wish I didn't get involved with this stupid investigation

???
-Where did this mask come from?

Find #7

Twilight sighed as she looked over every last bit of drawings, footage, and the diary. Nothing had changed since that day she revisited Lyra's house and got attacked. Things had been quiet, but that was the thing. Twilight knew it was only the calm before the storm. She was starting to become jumpier, she started feeling sick a lot easier, Twilight just wasn't feeling too well in general ever since she started looking more into Moondancer's disappearance. Bags started to form under Twilight's eyes, she started losing track of sleep and recently started picking up on Moondancer's habit of recording her daily routine on a video camera.

Though it was on this day in particular that Twilight received another letter from totheark.

"THeRe aRe DooRS STiLL LeFT uNoPeN, TeLL uS, you HaVe BeeN KeePiNG SeCReTS".

Us? Was there more than one involved with totheark? And what did totheark's message mean by there were doors still left unopen? And why would totheark be asking Twilight if she had been keeping secrets? She wasn't hiding anything. Well... that was really a lie. She never told Spike about why she was acting so strange. She usually told Spike it was the investigation getting her all worked up when in reality she was fearing for her life that she was in grave danger.

Later that day Twilight had just come back from the market when she found her bedroom door wide open. When she entered she saw nothing had been moved, but there was a message written on her window.

"TiMe iS RuNNiNG ouT".

Time is running out? For whom, or what for that matter? Twilight knew who when she saw Minuette's picture under the message. Time is running out for Minuette. Twilight quickly sent a letter via teleport and waited for a reply. She waited for what seemed like an hour until eventually, she did get a reply. Though it wasn't what she was hoping for.

"ark awaits".

"No, no, no, no, no, NO!" Twilight shouted in anger before punching the mirror in frustration

Unknown to Twilight, her camera started picking up something as she began to go into a coughing fit and eventually into a seizure attack.

Author's Note

Twilight's Notes:
-deHa ruths... s leeep.no w.........

Find #10

The next day Twilight went back to Moondancer's house. It was completely burned down. Barely anything remained of it. Nopony in the area knew what might've caused it, or even if it was an act of arson. It became increasingly obvious to Twilight that her investigation was getting more and more dangerous as time went on. Not to mention she started having more and more encounters with that... whatever it was... that she could only see using the video cameras. Twilight decided to check up on Minuette but found a note on her door saying, "ark awaits", just like the note she received when she last tried to check up on her.

The lights in her home were completely out too. Not a single stretch of light could be seen throughout the building. As far as Twilight could see anyways. Giving a sigh of defeat she decided to go back home and examine the damaged video recorder she found. She managed to get the data transferred over to one of her few nonbroken ones and played the footage. It looked to be of Moondancer running through the forest. This was a good sign for Twilight. That sign? Moondancer was still alive. However, things took a turn for the worst when it was revealed that Moondancer was getting chased by the same masked pony that Twilight tried to chase and catch back at Lyra's house.

The video then distorts and Moondancer is seen hiding in a maintenance shaft. The video begins to static as the camera pans to show the faceless pony had found her. Buzzing, beeping, and audio distortion followed before ending with Moondancer setting her house on fire with her in it, turning around to reveal the faceless pony one more time before one final message was shown.

"ARK AWAITS".

That was all that the broken video recorder had to show Twilight. Moondancer burned down her own house, but it was after getting chased by the masked pony that the faceless pony managed to find her and take her away. The masked pony now seemed to have a deeper connection to Moondancer's disappearance than she thought. But one question still remained on her mind. WHO is totheark? They seemed to be connected to Moondancer's disappearance, they clearly aren't the masked pony, and they seem to be wanting to help Twilight in any way that they can. There had to be a reason though that Twilight found the video camera. Things don't just happen for a reason.

After some time thinking Twilight came to the conclusion that the video wanted her to go to the maintenance tunnel that was shown in the video. Maybe there was a clue there that could help unravel the thread that is /\/\oo||dancer's disappearance...

"What was that? That sounded like a buzzing..." Twilight said to herself

Twilight shrugged it off before making some notes and heading to bed.

Author's Note

T\/\/ |l|ght's ||otes:
-Moondancer is still alive
-Moondancer burned down her own house for a very specific reason
-The Masked Pony is clearly not totheark
-totheark seems to be more that one pony who has a connection to Moondancer's disapperance
-The /\/\antininacne tunnel seems to be my best bet at finding any more clues towards Moondancer's location now

Find #12

Twilight checked her surrounds more before heading into Minuette's house. She had brought with her some zip ties and a knife just in case Minuette tried to fight back.

"Minuette? I know you're home. I know you're connected to this deeper than what you told me." Twilight hollered into the house, "I've read your medical files Minuette. I know you lied to me when you said you had no idea what happened to Moondancer. You know what happened to her!"

Twilight got no response as she walked deeper into the house.

"Minuette? Come on out and we can talk this out like adults." Twilight called out

Minuette then came out of a room wearing the same get up as the masked figure Twilight chased back at Lyra's house.

"Minuette?" Twilight called out

Minuette then looked at Twilight and pulled out a lighter.

"Minuette?! What are you doing with that lighter?!" Twilight asked

"We WiLL WaiT FoR you No MoRe. CoNTRoLe iS BeiNG TaKeN aWay FRoM you." Minuette said in a jumbled type of voice, "FRoM THe STaRT THiS HaS BeeN a GaMe FoR uS. NoT aNyMoRe. We'Re CoMiNG FoR HiM. aND He WiLL LeaD uS. .... totheark."

Before Twilight could ask what was going on, Minuette tossed the lighter to the ground and the whole house started becoming a blaze. Twilight tried to escape, but found herself punched back in by-

"MOONDANCER!!" Twilight shouted as Moondancer closed the door on her, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET ME OUT! MOONDANCER!!!"

"Ark awaits..." Moondancer said with a smirk, "Another one for the ark..."

Twilight thought she heard something behind her and looked to see the faceless pony in the real world. Twilight's heart began to pound, her lungs started hurting as she got into a coughing fit, everything started to.... hurt.........

.........................

THe PLayeR, THe DRiLLeR, aND THe iNVeSTiGaToR HaVe BoaRDeD THE ARK, oNLy THe FiRe ReMaiNS....

..........................
Spike awoke the next morning still finding it hard to believe Twilight was now gone as well. Spike didn't want to get involved with what was happening but knew that there was still some answers Twilight left unsolved according to her notes. Like, what was the ark? What did stigmata represent in all this? And who was totheark. The pony, or as Twilight discovered more than one, that lead Twilight towards the truth, only for her to go missing. Spike didn't want to continue on with Twilight's investigating for her, but knew he had no choice, for last night he received a package before Twilight's disappearance.

"iT'S aLL uP To you NoW FiRe, FiND DaNCeR, FiND THE ARK".