Running from the Past

Twister ran though the forest, the same forest that he had ran into minutes before. Or had it been hours? Twister didn't know, and quite frankly, didn't care. He was out of town and into the wilderness. That was much, much better than being in town, no matter how weird and freaky the wild forest seemed.

Twister tripped on his face. Again.

Getting back to his feet, Twister glared at the offending root. He was absolutely sure that the same root was following him around and tripping him on purpose, just to spite him. Lowering his head, Twister bellowed a guttural scream, then promptly turned around and ran further into the forest. Or was it out of the forest? Twister didn't know, and quite frankly, didn't care.

---0000---

“Calm down.”

“I can't Spike, not when he's out there. I know that he could've left and gotten on with his life, but when I left him on the bed he was too unstable to sit up, let alone leave!”

“What? Can you explain that a little more?” 'And in English?'

“How can I explain this simply...?” She sighed. “His mind was at war with itself. It seemed like there was a battle going on inside his head. I'm not sure what caused it, but I am certain that he's been through something tragic, or something so shocking that his mind refuses to believe it. His brain shut down his body to protect itself. It probably happened where we found him outside.”

“So something tragic happened.... right outside the window?”

“Or shocking. But yes, that's about it.”

“Okay...” Spike said, drawing out the word for several seconds.

“We need to find him, and before he hurts himself!”

Spike saw where this was heading, and tried to calm the situation down before it hit the critical mark on the total melt-down-o'meter. It was already quickly reaching the yellow-orangish section.

“Let's look at this logically. We've searched the town, nopony saw him leave, and where does that leave us? It's just as if he vanished into thin air!”

“Yes, you're right, but he couldn't have just done that! He was sick, at least mentally. He must've gotten up and wondered off in a stupor. He didn't leave by the roads, he's not in town, and, logically there's only a few places left, and we can cross off all but one, and that's...”

Her face suddenly took on a look of slight terror, not for her, but for a total stranger. She whispered something, and then took off, running full-tilt. Spike walked to the door, and being unable to find her on the horizon shrugged and went to go get a snack. He worried about her, but she knew what she was doing, right?

Except.... the word that she had whispered had been....

“Everfree”

---0000---

Twister kept on running for a while. He didn't know how long, and the sun was no help to him as it had been hidden by the canopy of the thick trees. He had managed to trip over that certain tree root almost five more times since when he last saw the sky, and he was covered in scraps and bruises. In other words, Twister was not in the best of moods. Talking to himself wasn't helping his attitude at all either.

“Why are we just romping out all over the place again? Whose idea was this anyway?” Said Twister.

“Don't look at me like that, it certainly wasn't my idea!” Twister said, somewhat irritable.

“Well, it wasn't mine! You aren't implying that I actually enjoy this are you?” Said, well, Twister.

“I'm hungry!” Whined Twister.

“You think I'm not?

“I'm hungrier! And thirsty!”

The last sane portion of Twister's mind went off to hide somewhere in his crazy head, unsure whether it was a good idea to stick around or not. Hopefully sometime soon things would start to make sense again.

“WHERE DID YOU PUT MY MUFFIN!”

“Nomgffwffeereree!”

“THAT WAS MY LAST ONE!”

“What muffin?”

“Just wait until I find you.... Then you'll get it!”

“Where did you even get the muffin? You don't have pockets, and I would've known if you were carrying one!

Hopefully was going to need a miracle to even have a chance. And it had better come soon.

'Please, miracle? Please?'

---0000---

“...put my muffin!”

Zecora's head popped up. She could've sworn that she had heard somepony. But nopony ever comes this far into Everfree except for her. Going back to picking herbs for her soup, she gave another little jump as the apparent argument continued.

“... was my last one!” The voice was getting closer, but Zecora couldn't hear the other person involved in the argument. Concentrating, she could make what seemed to be the cause of the argument. It seemed to be... a muffin? Time to make herself known to the as-yet-unseen pony.

“Hello, who is out there hidden by the tree?” She started forward towards the voice.

“Why don't you come out and meet me.”

She cringed at the rhyme. Whenever she had decided to rhyme everything, she hadn't thought it would be this hard.

Silence was her only response.

Still going forward, she soon reached the point that she had judged to be the source of the argument.

The only problem was that nopony was there. She knew that the voice still had to be there, she hadn't heard them run away. So it must be still here, only hiding.

“Playing games is very meek.”

“I don't have time for Hide-and-Seek.” She said, her thinning patient running out already.

The trees rustled behind her. Twisting around, she saw a sky blue pony, one that looked like they had been through hell and back based on the condition of his coat. He was glancing out around a tree, and his back half was hidden from view. Hoping to convince him out farther, Zecora walked towards him, smiling.

That didn’t work. The pony looked like it was about to run for it. She thought fast, as there was a very good chance that he could die. This far in Everfree there was creatures that didn’t appreciate being looked at, or for that matter, being bothered at all.

“Do not bolt,

Like a little Colt”

She needed more than that, as it still looked like the pony was planning on running. Looking closely at the pony, she gasped. She had seen this pony before. Or if it wasn’t, his exact twin. Knowing this gave her an idea, one to keep Twister from running.

“You’ll need help my friend,

before you can finally reach the end.”

This got his attention. He came around the tree, and stared at Zecora. He was still at the edge of the glade, but it was still an improvement.

“What? What did you say?” Said Twister. “The end of what? Tell me!"

His eyes betrayed him, showing the hidden turmoil deep inside. Sanity won for the moment.

Zecora smiled.

“The end of running.

It is quickly coming.”

A/N: I suck at regular updates.... I'm sorry about this, but this chapter was literally thought of 100 words at a time.

Same deal as last time. Tell me what you liked, what you hated, and what I need to change/develop.

-Listener/TB