Slender

by The Wizard of Words

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Rainbow Dash, Romance, Pipsqueak, Scootaloo, Human
Length: 38223

After a stormy night, Rainbow and Twilight awaken to find Pipsqueak missing from his home. With the attention and aid of Princess Luna, the three set out to find the young colt. But what forces, or what terrors, are truly at play around them?

There is a thing that does not see, that does not sleep, and does not dream. It waits and ponders while it watches with bait. Tantalizing the youngest and fooling the eldest. From a myth forgotten, from a nightmare ended, he walks the forest of the cursed.

The Slender Man.

Prior to Season 3
Story two in my Twidash Challange: Dark Theme
Poem by kitten-ears11

Published 2012-10-08 07:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-01-15 19:05:43 UTC

Myositis

Author’s Note: This is my first attempt at a horror fic. Ever. Not my first fic, just a horror fic. There’s a difference. I’ll leave the quality up to you to decide.

Twilight sighed as she finished another page in her novel. So far it was rather uninvolved. Despite being recommended from the only other avid reader in her group of friends, it had a rather predictable plot, shallow characters, and an obvious moral dilemma. How many novels out there asked for the hero to decide between the damsel in distress and the treasure of a lifetime?

Then again, it made sense that Dash would like it.

“So Twi, how’s the reading going?” The unicorn’s face rose from her book to see a cyan pegasus just in front of her, pink eyes focused on the pages between them. She felt a pull at the edge of her lips.

‘Speak of the mare.’ Twilight noted sarcastically in her mind.

“It’s… definitely something outside my usual reading material.” Any disdain for the book she had must have been kept from her voice, because all her words did was make the pegasus stand at her tallest, sport herself a cheeky grin, and hold a hoof up to her chest.

“We’ll, I do know my friends best. Wouldn’t be a very loyal friend if I couldn’t at least guess what you’d like.” The unicorn did all she could to suppress the sigh from escaping her lips.

‘It is the thought that counts.’ Twilight noted listlessly.

BOOM!

Dash jumped backwards a few good hooves at the sudden rupture from the thunder outside. Her wings were flared straight and eyes glaring viciously at the window. This time Twilight couldn’t suppress her body’s natural reaction. Soft, but audible, giggles came from the back of her throat. The pegasus took notice, and was annoyance, instantly.

“Oh yeah, laugh it up, egghead.” She spoke harshly towards the grinning lavender mare. “A pegasus got spooked by thunder. You better keep that a secret.” She mumbled the last part under her breath. Twilight removed the hoof from her lips before offering a far more gentle and caring smile to her friend, eyes closing half way and only superficial muscles of her lips flexing.

“I’ll never speak a word of it.” Dash gave a satisfied nod before trotting across the floor.

She settled down on the stairs, reaching for her choice of reading material for the night. “The Author’s Extended Edition of Daring Do and the Silver Luna,” coming with an extra forty pages of intense action and coat biting thrills. Whoever the author was, she sure didn’t disappoint. For every page she read, she found herself grinning wider and wider.

Dash looked up to see Twilight still reading on the floor, a small bed of pillows beneath her. Her book was lit by the small amount of light granted from the storm outside, occasionally lightened by a flash of lightning before the rumble of thunder. The pegasus sneered out the window.

She didn’t mind thunderstorms, heck, she made them, but they always kept her out of the sky whenever they needed to be produced. This time, however, the Canterlot Committee requested a blanket storm, one that the evaporation of the surrounding water bodies would increase its strength. That way, it would be able to self travel over the entire Equestrian continent. A single broad sweep.

There was some mumbo jumbo about putting some element or chemical back into the ground, but she didn’t care, really. All it meant was she couldn’t fly until this thing had flown over their heads and decided that the next town over was ripe for disrupting.

Dash’s attention to the window was cut when she saw another flash, but this one was purple, not white.

She saw a book levitate itself off of a table not far from where Twilight was, floating over and resting just on top of the book she was reading. Dash frowned. Setting her book down, unfortunately, she trotted over to the librarian.

“Yo Twilight,” she began, putting herself right next to the mare. Said unicorn gave a slight jump at her voice. “Whatcha reading now?” the mare looked up at Dash for a moment, lavender eyes meeting pink before settling back down to the text in front of her.

“It’s a book I started about a week ago,” she began to speak. “It’s an in depth analysis of classical mythologies and a historical recounting of ancient pony society.” A smile had drawn itself across the librarian’s features. When she looked back up to the pegasus beside her, she saw knitted eyebrows, pulled lips, and drooping wings. Twilight knew those signs immediately. Dash was confused, and annoyed.

“Sorry,” she began, clearing her throat. “It’s called ‘Tales and Lore of Mythologies’.” The author’s name didn’t matter, not to Dash at least. Twilight was willing to bet a couple of her books the pegasus couldn’t name the author of the Daring Do novels.

“Uh, Twi?” The pegasus began with a pointed tone. “I hate to break it to you, but all those words, they mean the same thing.” Her voice was flat, as if the fact were as obvious as the wings on her back.

“Not quite Rainbow, and the word you’re looking for is synonyms.” The mare’s rolling eyes spoke all the care she had for that fact. Twilight smiled at the gesture before continuing, her own eyes falling back to the book under her. “Mythology applies to a collection of interconnected stories of a society or community that never truly existed. Tales and lore are synonyms for stories.”

“Wait, back up,” Rainbow gave a small shake of her head before continuing. “You mean you’re reading stories based off of something that never existed?” The unicorn gave it only a moment’s thought before nodding in affirmation. “What’s the point of that? I mean, reading fiction is awesome, but fiction based on fiction? Doesn’t that become a double negative or something? You know, cancel each other out?”

“Wow Dash, I had no idea you had such excellent mathematical skills.” The pink rolling eyes hardened into a glare. Twilight’s smile became a giggle once more. “Calm down, sorry, I couldn’t resist.” The pegasus’s eyes had yet to soften. “Well the answer to your question is yes and no. Mythologies carry with them a set of rules and guidelines for establishing the world and culture it exists within. The stories are based off of those predisposed facts. It’s actually not that different than if… let’s say you read about Daring Do reading a plaque on the wall.” Dash’s mouth opened to an ‘O’ shape.

“Oh!” she lightly cried, excited even, “Oh I get it now. So you’re reading a bunch of stories based on one of these mythologies then.”

“Exactly.” Both mares smiled at one another, common ground finally met.

“Well, don’t leave me hanging.” Dash began, “Tell me what mythology this is.” Without waiting for an invitation or response, the cyan pegasus turned to stand beside her friend, lowering her legs to the pillows beneath her.

Their coats brushed against one another, small strands of coat hairs tickling one another. It was warmer than the fire in the hearth. Neither mare felt reason to complain. Twilight brushed and snuggled closer to the pegasus next to her, suppressing another bout of giggles as she felt the feathered wing of her friend wrap around her midsection.

“Well, this section of mythology refers to a culture of creatures known as Homo sapiens, or humans.”

“I’m gonna stick with humans.” Twilight gave her friend a sideways smile before looking back down at the book.

“Anyways, the human mythologies are absolutely filled with stories from nearly every genre. Science Fiction, Fantasia, Romance, Tragedies, and even epic adventures. This particular section deals with the lore revolving around horror and dark themes.”

“So, you had epic adventures as an option, and you went with horror?” Now Dash was giving her an incredulous look. “Seriously Twilight, and you wonder why you lose your head.”

“That was one time.” The unicorn responded under breath. Her mane shook with her head. “But, the reason why I’m reading this section is because horror stories, like all stories, have a unique purpose in cultures.”

“Oh yeah?” The pegasus questioned. “And what’s that?” Twilight smiled before responding.

“Horror stories such as these are aimed more towards children and foals. They are warnings against dangerous activities, discouraging them from doing things that would lead to harm with a supernatural consequence in their mind.” The curious look from Dash had turned into udder confusion. The unicorn sighed. “It means that these stories were meant to scare children away from doing dangerous things.”

“Oh!” Rainbow gave a slight cheer as the idea clicked. Her wings flared for a moment before settling back over her sides and Twilight’s body. The unicorn shifted closer to her friend. “I get it. It’s like Nightmare Moon, right?”

“Correct.” The lavender mare agreed. “Nightmare Moon endorses foals to give up their candy so they won’t be sick or have too many cavities. But, you know… she was real.”

“Yeah, was.”

“Anyways, the point is, I’m trying to determine some of the lessons this collection of stories is trying to convey. Some of them are rather obvious while others… let’s just say they’re overly vague.” The dip in Twilight’s voice was not unnoticed.

“Wait… are you like… feeling bad that you can’t figure them out?” Dash must have hit a nail, because the unicorn’s wide eyes met her own.

“N-No!” She attempted to defend, but defeat came quickly afterwards. “Yeah… it’s just… stories are supposed to make the message easy to understand, so it shouldn’t be that hard to interpret as long as I look for it. But the problem is these read a lot less like horror stories and more like a collection of warnings.”

“You’re going to have to explain how it’s hard to find a warning while looking at a bunch of them.” Sarcasm dripped like venom from the pegasus’s words. It made Twilight shake her head.

“No, that’s not what I meant. Here.” She turned the book with a small pull of her hoof, angling the text towards her friend’s gaze. “All that these do is list characteristics of the same figure over and over again, usually with details just trying to embellish the physical traits it possesses. It doesn’t follow the proper story format of plot arcs, character descriptions, development, or even grammar in a few parts. It’s like… it’s like this entire section was just scribbled.”

“Well,” Dash began, hoof lifting the back end of the book. “You are near the end. Maybe the author… I don’t know, made a few last minute revisions?” The incredulous look from Twilight made Dash physically pull back. “Yeah, alright silly, I get it.”

“I’m serious though.” Twilight let her horn flare for a second before pulling the book from Dash’s hooves, flipping the pages back before her forehoof settled on some of the text. “Look,” She began. “This is called “Frankenstein.” It’s about a scientist that attempts to recreate life artificially, and is successful.”

“That actually sounds… kind of awesome.” Dash admitted as the idea flew through her mind. Twilight made sure to shoot down the bird quickly.

“That’s the author’s point. It seemed like a good idea, but the monster the doctor creates travels across the land, killing the entire family of the scientist before finally running away, forcing the scientist into a desperate search that ends in his death.” The pegasus’s jaw hung uselessly from the short synopsis. “But that’s my point, you can get the meaning behind the author’s words very quickly.”

“No kidding.”

“So that’s why this one…” Twilight’s horn flared as the pages flew forwards again, ending on the section that caused her so much confusion. “Is driving me mad!”

Dash sat back, wing draped over Twilight, as she let the unicorn stew in minor anger. It almost made her smile, seeing the normally collected and analytical mare losing herself over a message she couldn’t understand. Still, if there was one thing the pegasus was sure of at this point, it was that this unicorn’s company was much better spent when she was calm.

“Hey, can I take a look at it?” Twilight gave her a sideways glance before pushing the book towards her.

“Sure,” she spoke with an exasperated sigh. “Maybe I just need another set of eyes to look at it.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Without another word, Dash set to work reading the pages in front of her… before quickly stopping and giving Twilight a confused look.

“Uh…” she began, one of her hooves rising to scratch the back of her mane. “What’s a human anyway?”

Twilight’s features, once twisted and scrunched in annoyance, instantly softened. Her eyes opened wider, jaw tilted open just a smidge, and shoulders falling with her already crouched legs. The muscles across her upper lips began to pull into a smile as she shook her head.

“Sorry,” she apologized, “I guess I missed that part.”

Her horn flared as she took the book back from Dash’s hooves. The pages spun backwards, the front cover the binding coming closer and closer to vision. Finally, at nearly the first page, Twilight set the book back down on the floor, one of her hooves tracing over an image.

“This is a human.” She explained patiently. “It’s a creature that walks on two legs, possess digitized bones and muscles in both extremities, making it capable of dexterous motions, lacking a coat over it’s body, and standing at heights ranging from an above average five feet to an impressive seven feet tall.” Dash watched with rapt attention.

“Furthermore,” Twilight continued. “Their culture was wide and varied. It’s common in these mythos to find something that can anger one human into a screaming fury, but would relax and soothe another into slumber.”

“Those are two pretty extreme differences Twi.” Dash replied flatly. The unicorn only giggled in response.

“I know, and at first, I thought it was a horrible way to characterize a species, but most of these authors do a great job of showing the mindset of each human throughout the stories. You can actually understand their motivations based off of more of who they are then what they are. In fact…” She gave a coy look to her cyan friend. “I’d say that a good deal of the stories written about these humans are better written than other fictional stories.” Dash caught on without missing a beat.

“You better not be implying Daring Do on me Twilight.” It wasn’t a threat, and they both knew it. Just another facet of Rainbow’s attitude the unicorn had in time grown to tolerate, and then slowly began to enjoy.

“Oh no, I love those books,” the mare agreed. With a small cough, she continued on. “Anyways, the point is that these humans all have similar physical characteristics, but vary immensely in mindsets and personalities. Also, none of them are capable of flight or magic.” That made Dash’s head turn.

“Seriously?” The pegasus asked skeptically, “None of them? There’s not even like rare breed of them with wings?” The unicorn shook her head determinedly.

“Nope, none. They can with a bit of engineering, but there was never a single human capable of flight or magic. Some of the lore has them capable of it, but outside of the stories, never.”

“That… kind of sucks.” Dash admitted.

Her pink eyes scanned over the image of the man. Long locks of a dark mane sitting on top of his head, long gangly claws with dull edges at the end of its fore hooves, short stubby ones at the end of his rear ones. Honestly, it looked rather hideous. The only thing about it that looked attractive were the muscles on it. Unlike most of the colts and stallions, she could see every detail in them. There was literally nothing hidden. She swallowed a ball in her throat she didn’t realize was there. She heard Twilight giggle next to her.

“See something you like?” The pegasus resisted, successfully, the urge to back pedal away from her friend.

“Nope!” Dash quickly shot out. “I-I just had a, a, a, a, um, a…”

She was caught, and she knew it. She was caught and Twilight knew it. The pegasus was chuckling nervously while the unicorn was smiling coyly. The tension between them was thick and heavy, taunt like a rope being pulled between Big Mac and Shining Armor.

BOOM!

Dash’s wings flared. Twilight’s horn flashed. The fire in the hearth went out.

The darkness quickly overtook the room, leaving the shivering mares holding one another close. Twilight could feel Dash’s wing vibrating over her midsection, trembling over her coat. Dash could feel Twilight move even closer to her, their coat hairs nearly tying themselves together.

The silence was more deafening than the thunder.

“That… was something, huh?” Dash questioned dumbly.

“Yeah,” Twilight answered with a level of equal intelligence. “H-Hold on a second.” The pegasus watched her horn light itself in the darkness, glowing the now famous lavender hue. Her features were lit up under the soft light, showing her concentration with shut eyes and tense lips.

In a small flash, the fire in the hearth relit itself, filling the library with light and warmth. Dash released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She saw more than felt Twilight’s hoof tapping her own.

“Dash,” she spoke in a whisper. Why a whisper? “You can relax now.” Confused, Rainbow looked behind her, focusing on the wings that betrayed her emotions only so often. One was currently holding Twilight close, like she would a stuffed doll in her fillyhood.

“O-Oh, yeah,” Her wing relaxed visibly, draping over the unicorn no longer like a hold, but like a blanket. “Sorry, about that.”

“It’s no problem.” Twilight easily dismissed. “Anyways, do you think you know enough about the humans?”

“Wha?” Dash looked at the unicorn mare with crossed eyes, confused. But then she realized like a Sonic Rainboom what she was talking about. “Oh! Yeah, probably. At least, as long as these authors are as good as you say they are.”

“Well, you can be the judge of that.” Twilight let her horn guide the pages back to the rear of the book, passing large and dark words of varying fonts. The pegasus marked it down as just different sections of the book, like a new chapter to Daring Do. With a small pop, the unicorn’s magic cut out leaving the book open. The pages at the book’s end.

The first thing Dash’s eyes landed on were the titles of the section. Twilight was right. It did look scribbled, and hastily so. Botches of ink were dripped around it, written in some of the largest characters she had ever seen in a book, especially for one that was supposed to be for eggheads like Twilight to study. She couldn’t help but speak the title aloud.

“The Slender Man?”

“That’s who he is.” Twilight spoke from beside her. “The problem is, unlike all of these other stories, his don’t have an introduction of characters or plot. It’s just a collection of memos, diaries, and random clippings from papers that I’ve never heard of before.”

“Hate to break it to you Twi, but if the thing is fantasy, you probably wouldn’t have heard of them before.” The unicorn shook her head at the comment, letting her lavender locks beat against the pegasus. She hardly batted a feather in protest.

“Besides the point. I just want to be able to understand it.”

“Well… what do you know? I mean, you’re the smartest unicorn in Equestria. You must have gotten something out of these.” Dash let her hooves push the pages as her pink eyes continued to scan the words. Once again, the mare was right. It didn’t flow anything like a Daring Do book, let alone a novel for eggheads. It was about someone going into the woods, then a missing pony’s (person’s?) report, then ending with some dark ashen document with the words “No” scribbled all over it. The only way this would be able to scare any pony is if they had the fear of not knowing everything.

Bull’s eye for Twilight.

“So far the only confirmed physical characterizes of The Slender Man revolve around his stature and clothing.” Dash let her pink eyes rise to Twilight, who was looking up towards the window, rain beating across it still. A low rumble of thunder shook the tree, but it didn’t cause a jump in either mare.

“He stands at an impressive height of over eight feet tall. His fore and rear appendages are also elongated to incorrectly assigned rations with respect to a human’s anatomical structure. An average man will have an arm to torso ratio of 1.2 to 1.4, the arm being longer. The Slender Man is nearly double that at 2.1 to in some of these reports over 2.6, leaving his arms near his ankles. His legs experience a similar leap in ratio proportionality. Additionally, he only wears large black suits that are able to cover all of his appendages, minus the extremities on his hands.”

“Doesn’t sound really creepy yet.” Dash noted as the unicorn stopped to take a breath. Twilight gave a nod of agreement.

“True, but I’m guessing the next few parts are most key for doing that. The Slender Man possesses no facial characteristics at all. No eyes, nose, mouth, ears, just a blank white patch of skin.” Rainbow furrowed her brow in confusion. Twilight nodded towards the look. “Lastly, he can apparently generate black tendrils from his form as well, though none of the stories have any details about what they are meant to do exactly.”

“Well…” Dash started, one hoof on top of the other as she bit her lip. “It doesn’t sound like anything that would give me nightmares, but for a little kid, I can see how the thing might be a little scary. I mean, can you think of a pony like that.” Twilight gave a small giggle at the prospect.

“Oh yes, all the details would be the same.” She let her hoof wave in the air to match her high sarcastic tone. “Taller than the princess, no mane or tail, and without a cutie mark. We’d call him Slender Mare.”

“Mare?” Dash asked with a chuckle of her own. “I thought it was Slender Man. When did he lose his junk?” The pegasus was rolled to her side as the unicorn gave her a push, purple coat over the face darkened a shade at the same time.

“That’s disgusting Rainbow.” The words may have been harsh, but between the high voice and unmistakable bouts of laughter, the pegasus took it as a well-timed joke.

“Hey, you started it. Wonder why you wanted him to be a mare. Got any fantasies you wanna share with me?” Twilight tried, honestly tried, to shoot Dash with a hard look. But, it only ended up melting into a cackle of laughter.

Both friends found themselves laughing like foals on the bed of pillows, the patter of rain on the window and crackling wood in the hearth as the only sound to remind them that time still continued, that life still went on. Dash let out a pleasured sigh as the urge to laugh slowly faded away. Twilight did the same, letting her lavender eyes meet the pink gaze of Dash.

“Thanks Rainbow,” the unicorn spoke with the friendly tone she had only so recently learned how to give. “I needed that.”

“Hey, no problem,” the pegasus dismissed with a wave of her hoof. “Just ask Pinkie next time. You know, Laughter and all.” Her eyes drifted upwards, watching the darkened corners of the room’s ceiling. Shadows swayed left and right with the crackling fire. It was mesmerizing.

“I would, if she weren’t visiting her family.” Twilight rolled over on the bed of pillows herself, form lying on top of one of Rainbow’s out stretched wings. The pegasus spoke neither word nor grunt of disapproval. “She’s not the only one either.”

“Yeah, come to think of it, Fluttershy went with her, didn’t she?”

“She did, but I think that was more of an excuse to evade this storm than anything else.” A low rumble of thunder shook the home again, if only to remind them it was far from finished.

“She’s gonna have a hard time then, this thing is supposed to go from border to border.” Dash felt more than saw Twilight nodding in agreement. Her eyes were still enjoying the sights of the ceiling above her.

“She’s not the only one. I’m pretty sure Breaburn asked for Applejack to help him with the trees down in Appleloosa. Apple Bloom went with her.” The unicorn giggled lightly. “But I guess if any pony can handle an orchard by himself, it’ll be Big Macintosh.”

“Yeah, that dude can kick a tree down. This would have to be a twister to even make him break a sweat.” They both laughed together, Twilight rolling further until her head snuggled into the chest of Rainbow Dash. This time, the cyan mare raised a hoof to hold the unicorn closer to her. Twilight didn’t complain.

“Even Rarity left for Canterlot, with Sweetie Bell, but I think that has more to do with shopping than precipitation avoidance maneuvers.” The lavender mare felt Dash chuckle, chest rumbling in a softer, and far more relaxing, rhythm than the storm outside.

“Completely true, but that does remind me of something.” Silence followed her statement. Twilight lifted her upward, tilting it against the cyan coat that was warming her. When their eyes met, Dash finished her thought. “Where is Spike?”

“Oh, Princess Celestia wanted to see him.” The pegasus was about to ask why, clear as the rain outside given the way her muzzle opened, but the unicorn beat her to the punch. “After the whole running away thing with the dragons, we asked the princess if there was any information about him that she could find. We only recently received a letter about it. I’m sure he’ll be back soon. It’s not like a couple of days without my number one assistant are going to kill me.”

“Not as long as I’m here egghead.”

“Glad I can count on you, Loyalty.” Dash gave a sound between a snicker and a sigh.

“That has got to be the lamest nickname I’ve ever heard.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true.” Twilight argued back without force, letting her eyes lull close against the comforting warmth of Dash’s chest. The pegasus did nothing to complain.

“Yeah, yeah.”

They let the breathing of one another calm their bodies, the tapping of the rain outside lulling them to sleep like a gentle breeze through a tree’s branches. The crackling of the fire kept their furry coats warm, endorsing the two to snuggle closer to one another, gentle giggling and chuckling with every move the other made.

It was almost like a game. A peaceful forceless game of dominance. But like all games, they came to an end. Twilight was lying once more over Rainbow’s chest, wing holding her close. A soft drumming of the pegasus’s heart lulling her to sleep like a mother’s lullaby.

“Hey Twi,” Dash called. The unicorn raised her head to see the pegasus holding the book of mythologies up to read. It was faint, subtle, like the shadows in the room that surrounded them, but Twilight knew what she saw across Rainbow’s face.

Fear.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, raising herself to a crouched position, instantly regretting the loss of warmth. She vocalized none of her wishes to return to the embrace.

“Just…” The voice caught in the pegasus’s throat. She swallowed a ball she didn’t know was there, meeting eyes with the unicorn still laying on her wing. “I-I think I found something.”

Her hooves turned the book over to Twilight, who lifted the bindings with her magic. On an open page, scribbled in the same near illegible ink and haste, was a poem the unicorn had yet to reach. It was nearly impossible to read, dried drop of some kind of clear liquid having been drizzled over the pages. She couldn’t shake the thought that they were tears.

Still, Twilight read on.

he has no reason
for what he does

leaving trails of bone and blood

without eyes he’ll watch and wait
he feels no love he feels no hate

taller than the trees he hides behind
he’ll never live he never died

he became in the shadows
he stalks the light

but they never saw him
even if it is bright

they think im insane

tHey ThINk im NoT RiGHt

and now im in the darkness
AlOne
without LiGHt.

BOOM!

Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle clung to each other with a force that could shatter stone.

“Hey Twi?”

“Yes?”

“I think I’m done for the night.”

“Same here.”

With a flash of lavender, the fire was extinguished.

The ponies were surrounded in darkness.

Malevolent

Twilight woke up without making a sound. Her eyes blinked away the sleep of the night as her body lay still. Her cushion was just as soft and warm as the night before, rising and falling in tune with her breath. The cyan fibers tickled her nose and warmed the side of her face. She smiled.

Dash always was the best pillow to sleep on.

Carefully, she angled her neck to see the pegasus’s head hanging down over hers, tongue hanging freely from her mouth. Her ears twitched absently in her sleep, but her eyes didn’t flutter for even a second. She was still trotting blissfully through her REM cycle. It made Twilight want to giggle, but she held back her breath.

Her lavender eyes looked up to her window before following the rays of light to the far wall, illuminating some of the books on the far wall. She recognized one of the titles, “Border Worlds and their Constellations.” It was an old favorite of hers. It was on the eighth row up from the floor, about the same height as the window. That meant the day had barely begun, Celestia’s sun just beginning to climb in the sky. She didn’t have to get up yet.

A content hum came from her lips as she pushed herself closer to Dash, cherishing the warmth that came from the underbelly of the pegasus. Twilight felt her friend’s wings pull her closer, blanketing her like they had the night before. She didn’t let out a sound of disagreement, only a coo of comfort. The idea of casting a sleeping spell on herself drifted into her mind, ghosting over her imagination.

With a bite of her lip, she did away with it. As lovely as a day asleep with the mare sounded, there was work that needed to be done. She couldn’t suppress the groan at her own reminder. Without Spike here, she would have to do much of the shopping and cooking herself. It wasn’t difficult, just… not nearly as warm or comfortable as sleeping on Rainbow Dash.

Still, work was work, and Twilight was never a filly to push away her duties. Carefully as she could, the unicorn lit her horn with a lavender glow, grabbing hold of the muscled wings that held her close. She felt the urge to sink deeper into their embrace, but fought it off. A reluctant sigh left her lips as she carefully rolled off of the cyan pegasus, cautious when setting Dash’s wings back down. The pegasus closed her lips for a moment, swallowing on something that wasn’t there, but her rest remained as deep as before. Twilight smiled at the sight.

She carefully trotted out of the room, walking with slow hoof falls up the stairs to her bedroom. The day may have been young, but nothing woke up a pony quite like a wash through water, or so the unicorn remembered Rarity telling her once. She let her hooves click across the floor of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. A flick of her magic turned the knob of the showerhead, pulling the curtains shut as she let herself stand beneath the falling water. Forgivingly, the water was anything but cold. Not nearly as warm or gentle as the frame and coat of the mare downstairs, but still, tolerable.

Twilight let her magic dominate her routine, letting the lavender glow work itself as she enjoyed the white noise of water against the ceramic of the shower’s bottom. Her eyes may have been shut, but she felt the rhythmic fall of the water against her as the liquid conditioner seeped into her mane and coat, cleaning her off any grime she collected through the previous day and night. It felt great, but still, not quite as enjoyable as being held close by Dash. The memory gave her a bubble of joy inside of her.

It was silly, really, and she knew it, but somehow, nothing felt quite as nice as being loved like that. The acceptance of Celestia, the protectiveness of her brother, she loved those as much as any pony would, but being near Dash… It was something altogether new and wonderful. She tried to remember through her cleaning and grooming just when they had started to act as they did, read stories together on late nights, hug one another close, and share a few meals in a few restaurants. Remembering when those happened was easy, remembering how it happened, however, Twilight just couldn’t do.

“Chalk it up as another mystery in pink.” Twilight spoke to herself, careful not to let the water running down her muzzle drip into her mouth. It was the truth though. Much like her energetic friend, just what was happening between the two of them was a mystery, something she would probably never solve. But much like the enigma that was her bubbly friend, how Rainbow and herself fell into these habits didn’t matter. She was happy, it was obvious Rainbow was happy, and no pony was hurt because of it. Besides, there were other things to worry about.

Her thoughts ceased with the flow of water. Twilight shook her hooves to shake off the excess water that clung to her coat. She pushed back the curtains with a quick flare of her horn. Water dripped from her still soaked mane and fur as her hooves clicked on the tiled floor. She felt a towel pat herself dry before she realized her magic was working. She angled her head left and right, letting the towel pull away the moisture from her coat with its soft fibers.

Her hooves lifted off the floor one at a time, letting the thick fabric work its way over her. Twilight let her eyes remain shut and passive as her routine neared the end, content to let her years of magical practice and skill be used for something less… complicated than saving a kingdom. A sigh of pleasure left her as she felt the towel wrap over her head, carefully patting around her horn before wiping itself over the bony protrusion with ca-

Wait…

She couldn’t do magic if something was touching her horn…

“Rainbow?” Twilgiht spoke the name questioningly. The towel froze mid-wipe, being held over her horn like a filly caught with her hoof in the cookie jar. The sigh of pleasure from before gave way to one of annoyance. “Okay Dash, thanks, but I think I can handle it from here.”

Twilight felt the towel being pulled from her with more force than any of the other gentle pats it gave before, all but confirming her theory of Dash rubbing her down, no doubt to perform some sort of prank on her. When she felt the last of the fibers, she opened her eyes, looking for the prismatic mane of her pegasus friend.

She found herself staring into the chitin features of Queen Chrysalis.

“Boo!”

Twilight’s scream pierced the heavens.

“I still can’t believe you fell for that!” Rainbow Dash cheered as she practically skipped down the streets of Ponyville, letting her grin spread wide across her features. “I mean seriously, I knew it would be sweet, but you just made it awesome.”

“I get it Dash.” Twilight cajoled beside her. “You already made it clear to the entire town that you’re prank worked, can we just move on from it now?”

“Heck no!” The pegasus responded without missing a beat. “With Pinkie gone for now, some pony’s gotta liven up this place. Might as well be the only other pony who can pull of wickedly awesome pranks.”

“And that includes scaring me half to death with some cheap mask?”

“If it means some pony gets to laugh out of it, yeah. Besides, it’s not like I hurt you or anything… Did I?” Twilight looked back up to the pegasus, seeing her giving a cautious look, her mouth hanging open and low with half drawn eyes. The lavender mare felt a sigh pull from her lips.

“No, no you didn’t.” She relented. “But why did you wear that mask?” Dash jumped beside her, flipping over the unicorn before landing on her opposite side.

“Aw come on, like you’d be scared if I was in the bathroom with you.” The eyebrows of the pegasus rose as her lids fell halfway over her eyes, a cocky grin sitting beneath her nose. “That sounds more like something you’d be excited for.”

Heat flared through the unicorn’s cheeks.

“R-Rainbow.” The name came out as a stutter, only making the pegasus’s grin break into full blown smile. “There are other ponies around us.” Twilight whispered harshly to the pegasus as her lavender eyes scanned the crowds of the market stalls.

“Chill out Twi’, it’s not like they care.” The unicorn froze in place as she felt the pegasus put a wing over her back. “If anything, it’ll just make them jealous.”

The heat of her cheeks spread to the rest of her body.

“Ss-stop it, Dash.” It was supposed to be a command, but it came out more like a whimper. The pegasus didn’t let the chance slip.

“Doesn’t sound like you want me to stop, Sparkle.” It was beyond Twilight’s comprehension if the heat flowing through her was from Dash’s close proximity or the anger she wanted to express. The urge to light herself on fire was definitely there. The problem was, with the heat that was spreading through her, it felt like she already had. “I think now is when Applejack would say something like, ‘Yer expression is all ah need suga’cube.’”

Twilight fruitlessly tried to break away from the winged embrace of her friend, eyes darting in every direction but the one just beside her. A few glances from a few tired ponies looked her way, but never anything more. She gnawed at her lower lip, suppressing a sound she knew would draw more than just a few glances if it came out. Dash either didn’t care, or wanted just that to happen.

That is until another noise pierced the air.

“Wait!” Dash’s wing flew off Twilight fast enough to nearly create its own Rainboom. “Twilight! Rainbow!” Twilight took a shaky breath to control herself. The mares turned to see a worried colt galloping towards them, his eyes wide and terrified. The pegasus recognized him instantly.

“Rumble!” Dash spoke as she quickly lowered herself to his height. “What’s wrong little buddy, you look terrified.” To Twilight, that was an understatement. The poor colt looked pale and out of breath, his dark coat a shade whiter and eyes sunk in. His wings buzzed at his sides, no doubt from trying to get to them faster. But what caught the eye of the inquisitive mare the most was what lay just beneath his eyes, sunk into the coat along his face.

Tears.

“Pip is missing!” He screamed at the pegasus, emotions flying high and fast. “Hismomiscryingandaskingeveryponyforhelpa-a-andwhenshetoldmeIgotworriedbecauseIhadn’tseenhimfordaysthensh-sh-shesaidhewasjustgoneand,and, and-” He felt a hoof against his muzzle.

“Whoa whoa whoa.” Rainbow spoke carefully to the scared little pony. “Calm down there little stallion.” She moved her hoof away from him, letting his hyper ventilating breaths to slowly subside. He still looked worse for wear. “Now, what were you saying about Pip? The little dude is missing?” Rumble nodded his weakly, his little body still shaking almost violently.

“Y-Yeah, but his mom is worried ‘cause she think he was f-f-foal napped last night…” The hairs on the back of Twilight’s neck stood on end. Dash didn’t twitch a muscle. “He-He-He’s been sick all week with a flu, like my brother during the water tornado, but… but Pip was worse. He…” His voice trailed off as something painful crossed his mind.

“It’s alright buddy.” Dash spoke to him, giving a pat on his back. “You don’t have say any more. Twi and I can talk to his mom. You just hang tight, alright?” The little colt’s eyes looked up to her, beaming through his wet gaze. The gaze could have made a manticore cry.

“Th-Thank you.” He spoke up them. “He’s… He’s one of my best friends. Y-You gotta find him!” Before Dash could utter another word, Twilight was beside her.

“Don’t worry Rumble.” She spoke with a caring smile to the colt. “Dash and I will do everything we can, maybe even a little bit more.” The ghost of a smile drifted over the gray colt’s features. “Now, where is his mother now?” The little pegasus aimed his hoof down the back street, down the path he had come running from.

“D-Down that road. It’s the red house on the right. A-A tree limb fell by it during the storm… I don’t think any pony’s moved it yet.” His hoof shook all the way back down to the ground. “P-Please find him. He’s my best friend!”

“Don’t worry little guy, we’ll do all that we can.” Dash spoke up with a proud smile. “You got the smartest unicorn and fastest pegasus on the case. Pip will be back soon, guaranteed.” Twilight held her mask of confidence in place well. Her eyes, however, stared at Dash as if she had just pronounced Princess Luna a true evil of Equestria.

“I hope your words are honest, Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight… didn’t say that.

Before she could turn towards the voice, a large figure descended in front of her, just beside Rumble and Dash. Wide wings of a dark shade were extended over her, shadowing her beneath the sun’s rays. Her breath caught in her throat at the sudden appearance, turning to fully see the thing that had started them.

She met the cool gaze of Princess Luna, Guardian of the Night.

“Your majesty!” Twilight fell to her knees without patience. She heard Dash and Rumble follow suit. A tense moment of silence followed, broken only by the murmurings of ponies around the market square. The unicorn dared a glance to her side, seeing many more than one pony staring at the sight of their princess.

“Rise.” The command came curtly, the cool feathery touch of a wing upon her shoulder. Twilight did as she was told, pushing herself to her hooves to meet the gaze of her lunar ruler. She felt a shiver beneath those cerulean eyes. “Rainbow Dash,” the dark alicorn began, gaze shifting to the cyan pegasus. Said mare nearly jumped at the direction. “Didst thou speak true and honest with thine vow of commitment?”

“Uh,” Dash uttered dumbly, eyes wider than Twilight’s own just a few hours ago. Her pupils darted to and fro, searching for a comment to make, before finally settling on the unicorn just beside her. She begged silently for help.

“She was asking if you’re going to help search for Pip.” Twilight explained quickly in a soft hush, already fully aware of the alicorn who could hear her. Recognition shown in the pegasus’s eyes.

“Oh! Yeah! Totally!” Her confident aura returned lips rising again into a sure smile. “There’s no way in Tartarus we’re letting some foal napper get away with anything in our town.” She held her smile as wide as she could, standing to her fullest in front of the alicorn with flared dark wings. Seconds passed in silence before the confidence began to fade from the mare, her grin fallowing into a worried frown.

Luna held her stone expression as her commanding gaze continued to look towards Dash. The only part of her form that moved was the celestial mane behind her, translucent to the sun that draped over it. Her eyes moved from the pegasus, slowly twisting till they met the form of the still tearful colt, legs shaking hard enough to rattle across the ground. The sharp crystal orbs slowly softened into caring sympathetic eyes, looking down at the scared foal with a gaze not far from that of a mother.

“Calm yourself young Rumble.” Her voice spoke softly as she lowered herself to the colt’s height, glistening shoes by her muzzle. “I have come only by the knowledge that Little Pip has been taken. He is a friend of mine that I cannot allow any harm to pass upon.” The small pegasus colt she spoke to brightened with every word that passed the lunar princess’s lips.

“So… you mean you’re going to help looking for Pip?” Even with a coat still matted with tears, it was impossible to miss the spark of hope that glimmered in his youthful eyes. The dark princess chuckled lightly before answering.

“Of course. He proved to me that I can be the princess Equestria needs me to be. I would be doing a disservice to not aid him now, in his hour of need.” Rumble nodded up and down vigorously.

“I have no idea what you just said, but thanks for helping princess!” Without wasting a moment, the colt jumped forward, wrapping his hooves around the princess’s leg. Any tense moment that might have come flew away as Luna laid her other hoof over the small pegasus’s back. Dash and Twilight exchanged a look of relief at the display.

“It is my pleasure to offer help to those who require it most. But,” Luna pulled back her hoof, gently ushering the small Rumble off of her. “If I am to aide Pip, I must speak to his mother first.” Her gaze turned away from the small crowd, looking past the crowd of ponies that had collected at the path’s edge, watching the exchange carefully. “You spoke that his home is over yonder, in a home of red?” The colt nodded, gently backing away from the dark alicorn.

“Yeah, his… his mom is there. She told me when I came by to check up on him.” Rumble’s head fell low as the memory surfaced in his mind. “She’s… She’s scared, more scared than me.” Once again, his eyes rose the Princess of the Night, asking a question he had only just voiced. “But you can fix that right?" Luna smiled kindly down upon the colt.

“As Rainbow Dash has spoken and vowed, we too will do all that we can to find Little Pip.” The alicorn rose to her tallest as she finished, folding her wings against her side as she did so. Her gaze turned to Twilight and Dash, watching two exchange words, just as mesmerized as the crowd that surrounded them. “Is that not correct?”

“H-Huh?” The pegasus let out dumbly before giving herself a rough shake. “Oh yeah! Totally! With your help, we’re gonna find whoever did this as fast as I can fly.”

“And you, Twilight Sparkle?” The dark alicorn asked, gaze now on the prized and precious student of her sister. The unicorn, however, held an expression caught frozen between bewilderment and confusion.

“Yo Twilight,” Dash spoke next to her, “You still in there?” The pegasus gave her friend a light nudge with her hoof, shaking the mare. The unicorn blinked her eyes once, twice, before giving her mane a shake with her head.

“Yes!” She cried a pitch too high. “Yes, sorry, yes, I just… just… I guess I didn’t expect to see you here your majesty, at least so… quickly.” Twilight spoke in a tone the quickly grew sheepish, a hot blush visible across her lavender coat.

“Truthfully, this was not planned, but word spreads to us, my sister and I, faster than most ponies would assume.” Luna supplied her reasoning, watching as the unicorn slowly nodded her head in understanding. She turned from the pair and colt, aiming her form down the street Rumble had motioned for them twice now. “Come then.” The princess beckoned with her wing. “The sooner we can begin this task the sooner we shall return Pip to his mother and home.” Without waiting for a response, Luna began to trot down the streets of Ponyville.

“Whoa.” Dash muttered at the retreating figure of the princess. “Never thought we’d get that kind of help. I almost feel bad for whoever took Pip, right Twi’?” The pegasus knocked one of her front hooves against the unicorns chest, earning a “oof” as the air left the mare.

“Y-Yeah,” Twilight responded, taking in the breath she lost. “Just... something doesn’t feel right.” She began to trot forward following the path the princess left behind of gawking ponies and bowed subjects.

“What are you talking about?” Dash asked backed, taking to the air as she hovered around the unicorn. “She’s the freakin princess of the night. I mean, yeah, I guess you could say we beat her once, but it’s not like any foal napper is going to have the Elements of Harmony on hoof, let alone know how to use them. Now come one slow poke.” The pegasus playfully jeered with a flick of her tail. “We gotta show the princess how we handle things around here.”

Dash took off forward, catching up with the princess in all the time it took the unicorn to raise and lower a hoof. Her lavender eyes watched over the two, walking behind them at a pace that matched theirs, neither losing or gaining ground.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Her words went unnoticed.

Mystery

The trot to Pip’s home was uneventful, if a bit awkward. While Rainbow and Twilight alone would have drawn no more a crowd than any other pony, the presence of the Princess of the Night earned a bit more than a passing gaze from the many shoppers of the market. For every twist of the dark alicorn’s head or gaze, a collection of ponies would fall to their knees, haunches raised in the air in a low bow.

Dash snickered the first few times, gently tapping Twilight towards the display, as if she had not seen them herself. The unicorn, however, was far more than used to the over zealous display of loyalty, following Princess Celestia through her daily routines in the castle and out about the roads of Canterlot. But there at least it was more subdued. Expected, definitely, but about as noticed as some pony sneezing. Here, they might as well have said… that… well that Princess Luna was in Ponyville. There wasn’t a metaphor Twilight could conjure through mind or magic that could relate to the level of attention they were receiving.

The Princess herself either did not mind or felt it expected. Both unicorn and pegasus put their bits in the later. For every collection of ponies that bowed, the princess would nod her head towards them or lightly speak “rise,” in a subdued tone. It was enough, but the wide eyes never left. For those reasons alone, Dash and Twilight followed behind a few hooves pace. If Luna was expecting this, as she very well did, trotting in front of her would most likely be an insult, especially to a mare that held herself close to customs.

Twilight found it hard to contain the sigh of relief when they reached the house Rumble had described to them. It was red, very red, almost out of place like Big Macintosh red. From the housing sides to the door to the window shades and even the thatched roofing itself, the whole home seemed to be shaded red. It nearly hurt her eyes, the way Twilight was looking at it. But just as the small colt had also said, a tree limb was beside the house.

Limb was not the right word. This was a tree, period. Twilight was able to visibly observe the roots pulled from the ground, the large trunk of the tree groomed for the many branches that sat the once tall canopy.

“Guess this is it, huh?” Dash asked next to her sarcastically, or so the unicorn noted.

“It seems so.” Luna spoke in return. She let out a slow breath before trotting towards the door, giving neither motion nor observation for the two mares to follow. The princess raised her crystal covered hoof to the door, lightly tapping on the rough surface. Silence echoed beyond the wood before a very soft but audible thud was heard from within.

“P-Please, just one second.” The voice already sounded pained through the door. Twilight knew she wouldn’t need to imagine what it sounded like once the door opened. That mystery would solve itself. A few dull moments passed before the latches of the door undid themselves, allowing the wood to swing inward, revealing the troubled mare within.

The pony had a coat very similar to Pipsqueak’s own, white with patches of tan or brown scattered across the coat. It dotted her much the same way a batch of chocolate would be thrown onto a vanilla cake. That detail alone was all it took for Twilight to chalk up the mare as Pip’s mother. The rest of her, however, revealed far more.

Her mane was brown like the dots on her coat, but twisted and knotted without care or comb, the outer fibers wet and clinging to the others. Her eyes were sunken in with red linings, bags hanging from her lids weight. The only thing about her that appeared collected was her hooves, still against the ground she stood on.

That changed the moment her red eyes fell on Princess Luna.

“Y-Y-Your Majesty!” The pony nearly cried in fright as she fell to a bow, no different than the many others that surrounded her home. “F-Forgive me I… I didn’t know that y-you were coming. I would have… I’d-I’d-”

“Calm yourself.” The dark alicorn spoke in a voice not far from ordering. “It is already clear to us why you are in… the state that you are. We are here only to help.” The mare’s eyes remained wide and cautious as she stared up at the alicorn, nose to the ground and tail in the air. “Rise.” Like all the ponies before, the mare rose. “We are here only to speak of young Pipsqueak.”

For a moment, a flash of time that would make Rainbow Dash appear slow, the mare’s quivering form stilled, her eyes widening as her pupils dilated. But as fast as the signs came, they vanished, leaving behind the same nearly broken mare, staring dumbly up at the Princess of the Night.

“Y-Yes.” She spoke softly, eyes moving to an object other than Luna. “Please come in. A-All of you.” The multi-colored pony let her vision rest on Rainbow Dash and Twilight as she spoke. Leaving the door wide, she trotted back inside, the three ponies following close behind. Rainbow closed the door with a swift kick of her rear leg. The journey into the home was very brief, a single turn from the initial hallway into a spacious foyer.

The foyer, however, was ill kept with wrappings and papers spread about the table, some cushions pulled from the furniture, as the doors of cabinets and display cases were open. Some pictures were ill aligned and others were lying on the floor. It wasn’t a wreck, not nearly, but it was also a far cry from proper, or so Rarity would label it.

“I’m sorry about the… the mess.” The mare apologized as she started to nose papers out of sight or lifting cushions with her hooves. “My m-mind has just been… b-been on other things.”

“Hold a moment.” Luna spoke again in the tone that demanded attention. The multi-colored pony froze at the words. With a flash of magic, the room began to straighten itself. Bright lights of colorful blues surrounded papers or misplaced items, brushing dust and aligning portraits the longer it glowed. Then in a flash just as intense, it was done. The room was spotless and clean.

“That was pretty sweet.” Dash noted absently before knocking one of her hooves against Twilight. “You think you could do that? It’d save Spike a whole lot of time cleaning up your messes.” She got a small kick in return.

“Thank you.” The mare spoke to the princess, a steady breath flowing in and out of her lungs. “I’m sorry again for the state you have caught me in.” She turned her attention to the two other ponies in the room. “I guess Rumble found you two, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did,” Twilight confirmed taking in the professional role the situation required. “He was hysterical when he found us, talking about Pip being foal napped and-” She stopped. The mare had broken eye sight with her, turning her attention to the floor. She was just as focused on the growing pool of tears as the rest of the ponies in the room.

“Then the colt spoke true words.” Luna spoke softly, her words doing little more to the mother than the actions passed had not already done. The dark alicorn let her eyes shut as her form stood to its tallest, meditating on thoughts neither the unicorn or pegasus could read.

“Can… you please explain to us what happened?” Twilight ventured carefully, phrasing her words as best she could. She was no Fluttershy, she couldn’t know the best words or actions to speak to a pony, not on a whim. This time, however, she must have at least been close.

“Yes,” the curt answer came, due to the breath that it shook on. “Y-yes, of course. Please, sit.” The mare took her own seat on a fluffed cushion facing the party before her. Dash and Twilight took to their own small pillows as Princess Luna took to the sofa, her form large enough to dominate the entirety of it. No one spoke word or remark of protest. With a deep breath to calm her quivering chest, the multi-colored pony began to speak.

“My name is Emma Pinto. I am originally from Trottingham, with my son Pipsqueak. We came to… leave behind a life that I didn’t want my son to grow up in. Trottingham, it’s a nice city, I did enjoy growing up there, but… but where I was when I had Pip, I couldn’t let him stay.” Her eyes focused on a picture along the far wall, out of sight for any of the ponies around her. Her vision refocused on the group before they could question her.

“Ponyville was the first town that I came across with Pipsqueak. It’s small, friendly, and in the line of sight of Canterlot, and by extension the princesses.” She gave a small nod of her head towards Luna as she spoke. The dark alicorn smiled with a spark of pride, though she hid it well beneath years of practice and training. “Pipsqueak loved it too. He made friends so quickly with the rest of the fillies and colts at school, spent a lot of time with Rumble on playdates, and he was still able to come home smiling and bouncing with energy, ready for his… ‘next big adventure.’ Mrs. Pinto whispered the words harshly, her voice growing high as she did so. The reason why was obvious.

“B-but, that’s in the past.” She spoke again, collecting herself however briefly she could. “What matters now is… what happened to my colt.” Her lower lip worked itself through her teeth, blood nearly drawn between them.

“My colt was foal napped.” Her words were nearly as harsh as Celestia’s Sun in a summer blaze. “Some time last night… d-during that terrible storm, he vanished. I-I remember a loud crash echoing from outside, no doubt from that tree falling, and then a small bleep as the power went out.”

“Not really surprising given the size of it.” The unicorn nodded absently as Mrs. Pinto continued on.

“That’s when I heard him scream.”

“Whoa, what, just because the power went out?” If Dash had anything else to say, it was silenced between a rough kick from the unicorn next to her. Pip’s mother was open to continue.

“Y-Yes, you see, he has become terribly afraid of the dark. I don’t know if… if it is because of his illness or a phase, but whenever he is alone in the dark…” Her chest began to shake again with unsteady breaths. “H-He j-just screams a-a-and cries. It’s like… l-i-ike…” The mare broke down into muffled sobs, a hoof shaking harder than the trees in last night’s storm covering her muzzle.

“It is alright Emma Pinto.” The dark alicorn spoke from the cushioned sofa. “We understand the difficulty of these times. Do not strain yourself more than you have to.” The mare, however, shook her head fiercely before responding.

“No,” she hoarse whisper came from her throat. “No, my little Pip is in trouble, an-nd if I have to cry a little in front of you to make sure he’s… he’s safe, I’ll do it a hundred times over.” With another trembling breath, the multi-colored mare continued on. “A-A little over a week ago now, he… Pip grew violently ill. He had chills, vomiting, flash-sweats, more than I could bear to watch. T-the doctor said tha… th-that he must have caught something in the woods d-during one of his little… escapades.” A bitter laugh came from her throat. The ponies around her smiled pitifully.

“Over… Over the last week h-he started crying at the sight of shadows, aski-begging me to put more lights in his room. I-I did, but when I… ran out of lights… h-he added candles. Then there were… nights where he wanted to sleep with me, a-and when he did, he clung to me harder than e-even when he was born.” The tears had yet to stop to falling.

“Do you have… any suspects you think would want to hurt Pip?” Again, Twilight chose her words carefully. The mare was already hurt and badly damaged, breaking her would do no pony any good.

“N-No, well… his father, but… b-but he’s… locked up.” Suddenly, it became rather clear to Twilight just why Mrs. Pinto wanted to leave Trottingham before. “But no… no one around here as ever th-threatened us, n-not even in a prank.”

That left a lot of unanswered questions. So far, they had only confirmed what they had already known. Pip was foal napped, he had been sick for the past week, and there were no suspects that were at the forefront of any ponies mind. All they had learned so far was the unnatural fear of the dark the young colt had seemingly gained. Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought.

Maybe it had something to do with his illness. It wouldn’t be the first time a criminal took advantage of the weak or ill to perpetrate a crime. That would at least narrow down the list of possible suspects in this. A pony would not only have to have the motive to commit it then, but also the means of getting Pip sick. Those symptoms, however, didn’t register in Twilight for any known medical condition. Alone, yes, of course, but vomiting is a regurgitation instinct of the body to rid itself of harmful bacteria or viruses that were still within the digestive tract, to minimize the amount of infection. Over a week of it, however, in combination with flash sweats would usually mean some kind of bacterial infection. However, just including chills into that list completely undid any known form of natural immune response.

That would mean that it would have had to of been a state purposefully inflicted upon poor Pip. Again though, it was all speculation until they could find more. There was one more question the multi-colored mare could answer, however.

“Out of curiosity Mrs. Pinto, but why haven’t you called the police yet?” Twilight made sure her tone was soft, losing none of the care and tenderness she had began with. The multi-colored pony sighed to the ground before responding.

“I’m… I’m scared to.” Luna opened her mouth at the answer, but was silenced as the mare continued. “Pip is my responsibility. I promised the courts that I could take care of him. I knew I could. His father… his father was not a pony I wanted around my son, not with what he drank… and ate… and… did.” The dark alicorn slowly closed her muzzle, watching the mother continue with a cool gaze.

“So, what? You were scared that the police would say you did it?” Twilight almost gasped at the pegasus’s brash remark. A choke from the mare in front of them was enough evidence that the words went too far. However, Pip’s mom continued before the unicorn could reprimand her friend.

“That… i-is probably part of it. But no… no I was scared that if they… when they find him that they would take him a-a… away from me.” She bit her lip to hold back tears. It did little good. “I’m already a single mother, and Pip… he’s… he’s such a small colt. Everypony thought he should stay with his father, b-but I knew he couldn’t, I proved that. I couldn’t let him go back. So… So I thought that if I was able to find him alone then… e-everything would be okay.” Any confidence the mare had when she came up with that logic was gone as she spoke it.

“Then why ask Rumble to help? The little guy was hysterical when he came to us.”

“Rumble is Pip’s absolute best friend.” The answer was the clearest thing Mrs. Pinto had said yet. “I knew he would find you two to help. He’s… his family knows about Pip and I, so I knew he wouldn’t tell the police… not unless he was asked.”

“You speak honest words, damning as they are.” A shiver came from the multi-colored mare as the dark alicorn’s words washed over her. “Your concerns are both genuine and brittle, but void of meaning now.” Luna stood too her tallest again, eyes scanning the home as she did so. “Where is Pipsqueak’s room? I wish to see this… illness you spoke of.”

“Y-Yes of course. Just… please don’t judge him.” Mrs. Pinto spoke as she rose from her cushion, Twilight and Rainbow not far behind the pair. Pip’s mother walked out of the room behind her, the three ponies following close behind. The clopping of hooves was the only sound that echoed through the home as they moved, quickly approaching a door at the far end of the hallway. On the outside, it appeared no different from any other in the home, save for a small sign that hung from the center of the polished and stained wood. “Lair of Pip the Brave” It displayed proudly, though written by a foal’s hoof and skill.

“H-He was really proud of himself when he made that.” Mrs. Pinto spoke as she noticed the group collective reading the sign. “So was I…” Her voice trailed off as she spoke. That was when a dark wing extended over the mare.

“Do not worry Emma Pinto,” The Lunar Princess spoke with a kind tone Twilight nearly mistook for Celestia. “We shall return Pip home safely. I vow to you on the honor of my throne.”

“Thank you.” The mother spoke, a faint smile playing over her lips before vanishing beneath the perpetual sorrow that surrounded her. “Thank you, your majesty I… I trust you. Please,” She motioned towards the room with her hoof. “Feel free to look around. If you can find anything to help you, take it. Just…” She bit her lip.

“Yes?”

“I wasn’t exaggerating earlier when I spoke of my little Pip having terrors in his sleep, nor of how he began to… draw them.” Her eyes looked across all three of them, from alicorn to unicorn to pegasus. “He’s just a scared foal. Please don’t judge him.”

Without waiting for another word, she left the three, trotting down the hall and, doubtlessly, to rest her terrified mind. The three watched her off before turning their attention collective back to the door.

“So…” Rainbow trailed off, eyes never leaving the door. “I guess we just, go in and look around?”

“Yes, that would be the best place to start.” Twilight agreed, marching forwards as her horn sparked with the lavender aura of her magic. The knob on the door twisted clockwise before the audible click of metal signified the now open pathway. The door swung open, revealing the contents within.

Twilight expected a mess.

She did not expect paranoia.

Pictures, drawings, scribbles, and marks the likes of which Twilight had never seen before mared all of the walls within Pip’s room. The decorative wallpaper was torn from the hard surface, ripped in circular patterns or dramatically large “x”s. Writing papers were taped along the few sections of walls that were not marred, scribbles of notes that were only barely legible for even her trained eyes. But above that hung more lights than Twilight had ever seen in one place in her life.

There were at least two dozen of them, screwed or taped to the ceiling with wires falling loosely to floor, connecting to sockets or extensions cords that traveled out of her sigh. All different shapes and sizes without any discernable way to tell one bulb from the other when the wires began to cross. As if the over abundance of light was not enough, candles were placed along the room as well, one for every corner and at least a claw’s worth for each wall. Would the room be lit up, the unicorn doubted she’d be able to see a thing.

“Kind of… excessive.” The words were rather bland, but Dash didn’t say anything that either Twilight or Luna could disagree with. “Creepy actually.” Her voice muttered closer to Twilight, very much aware of the protective princess nearby.

“I’m not about to argue that.” Twilight returned. “I’m just… confused really. All I know is that Pip had some kind of inane fear of the dark.” She trotted closer to one of the walls, examining the notes that hung from it. As before, many were little more than scribbles. Any patterns that were meant to be conveyed were lost beneath the myriad of the young colt’s mind. Her eyes, however, were able to lay on a single note, taped just above her eye level, that was both literate and… informational.

[img] http://b68389.medialib.glogster.com/media/cb558c72b701b8e55bff5f9222214d96243188fd6bd6c7d5eda9416f958ebd27/slender-note-620x310.jpg[/img]

“Is that the bogeymare?” Dash asked besides Twilight, eyes reading over the same parchment. “Kind of an odd way to draw it, don’t you think? Where are the hooves? The mane? The tail?”

“I suspect that is what Pip fears so heavily from the dark.” The voice of Luna spoke from behind the two mares. Twilight looked back to her, towing over the unicorn and pegasus without any effort. The lavender mare nodded.

“That would be a safe bet, the only question now is who is he?”

“No,” Dash disagreed. “The better question is what is he? I mean, Pip has known about this thing for… what, his mom said a week?” The pegasus put a hoof to her mane, giving it a scratch. “Honestly, this thing sounds a little like that guy you were reading up on last night Twi?”

“Oh?” The princess inquired. “And who would that be?” Twilight focused on neither of the two ponies, still analyzing the paper in her magic.

“You know, hide in the shadows, alone without light, all that stuff. C’mon, that poem made us both jump out of our coats.”

“What are you speaking of?”

“A thing from some story book Twilight was reading.” Rainbow answered the princess, alleviating Twilight to focus on her study of the parchment. “It’s some kind of monster from these human myths. Wasn’t all that scary till we got to what was supposed to some pony’s poem about what happened.”

“Interesting,” Twilight heard the princess note almost absently. “And what did these myths title such a monster?” The unicorn could just feel Dash preparing to speak, waves of pride washing over her.

“The Slenderman.”

Memories

“Princess, you okay?” The words earned Twilight’s attention. She turned from the picture in her magical grasp, looking at the Princess of the Night. By appearance alone, she looked fine. Her mane billowed in all the same manner as before, stance tall and proud, gazing at Rainbow Dash.

It was the gaze that irked her.

The eyes were wide as plates, pupils small as dots. They shook like flies in a wind Twilight imagined only a pegasus of being able to survive. Luna’s lips trembled as well, shaking with her jaw. It was as if she was trying to form a word, a syllable, a letter, but didn’t have the idea of how.

“Princess Luna?” Twilight asked carefully, trotting towards her ruler. The dark alicorn did not respond.

“Uh, your majesty?” Dash tried again, this time placing a hoof on the coat of princess.

Luna jumped with a single gasp.

Her hooves trotted backwards, pushing away from the pegasus before her. Her breath became rapid, pulse quick. And, still her eyes trembled, her lips shaking. Twilight looked to Dash, now far more concerned than before. The pegasus gave her only a look as shocked as Luna’s.

“Princess Luna? Are you alright?” Twilight tried again carefully, trotting towards the dark alicorn. This time, the youngest ruler of Equestria gazed back down at the unicorn, her gaze gaining focus as her features ceased their motion. Her underbelly grew and shrank with deep breaths, controlling the rapid pace of her heart. Taking in a mighty breath of air, she released it, shutting her eyes and lowering her head. When Luna looked back up, she appeared the same as when they entered Pip’s room.

“I…” Luna began weakly, eyes moving from the unicorn to the pegasus. “I apologize for my state,” she spoke earnestly. “I am familiar with the Slenderman of legend. Those are not tales I am kind of hearing.” Twilight’s brow screwed itself in confusion, but it was Dash to voice the question.

“How the hay do you know about Slenderman? Twilight didn’t even know about that dude until last night, and that was because she was reading stories based on other stories.” The unicorn forced herself to keep her gaze on the princess, avoiding an annoyed glance towards Dash. The princess was of much higher concern than a small jab or taunt.

“You forget my age, Rainbow Dash.” Luna spoke calmly. “My sister is my elder by scarcely a few years, and the tales of humans and their monsters is a mythology old. What better things did you imagine I do during the hours of my night while ponies still slept and dreamed?”

“Uh,” the pegasus began, catching herself between confusion and curiosity. “Count the number of stars in the sky?”

“That number changes as I see fit.” The dark alicorn shot back. Dash took a few hoof steps back, landing on the floor. “No, I filled my time with stories and tales, hoping to find a yarn or thread to which I could catch the attention of those around me. These well constructed words were what brought many ponies admiration and fame. My youthful form thought it would behoove me to learn such tales, in hopes and dreams of having others listen to these ancient stories.”

“Then, when you could no longer find any stories to entertain the ponies, they started to neglect you?” The unicorn’s words were scarce with compassion, but the alicorn paid them as much mind as a well-rehearsed and genuine apology.

“No, they never cared to listen to them to begin with.” Luna breathed a sigh of defeat, trotting to a far wall.

Twilight and Dash watched her, glancing to one another in confusion and worry. They both knew Princess Luna was a pony who hid herself well, much like her sister on the throne. Though undeniably strong and eternally wise, it did not make her any more of a god than the foal they were looking for. She was subject to the same emotions that fell over all of them. Worry, anxiety, nervousness, fear, and even loneliness. Unspoken again, they could agree that Luna knew the last better than any other.

Luna traced her hoof over the markings on Pip’s wall, her jewel adorned hoof scratching over the black lines drawn over enough paper to plaster every viewable spot on the young colt’s walls. She let out a cold breath of air.

“Pip was the first colt, first pony, to listen to my tales in many years, both before and after my banishment to the moon. A confinement I rightfully deserved.” Dash shut her muzzle before she could utter a breath of air. “He listened to me tell tales of many old ponies, forgotten now by even the eldest of the wise. Tales of brave knights defending Equestria when chaos was still rampant, of unicorns with magic so great, they could challenge us, though only on blessed days best me.” A small smile grew over the alicorn’s lips as she continued.

“I came to visit him often in his dreams, entertaining his nurturing curiosity with the stories. No matter how many words I spoke, he found them never enough. Odd as it was, and odd as it still is, I found no hardship upon myself in providing more for him. Rather, I enjoyed it.” Any trace of peace or happiness upon Luna’s features slowly vanished as she gazed at the wall her hoof traced, looking with her sapphire eyes at the marking and words that stained it.

“But I never spoke to him of terrors. I feared as a foal in the dark that tales of blackness or misery would frighten him away from me. I could not stand the mere nightmare that he would push away from me, too fearful to gaze at me because of the words I had spoken or shown to him.”

“Shown?” Dash questioned. Luna sighed before answering.

“You do not dream of words, Rainbow Dash.” The dark princess explained. “You see visions and hear the mind as you rest. The planes of dreams are pallets of color by which I speak. But these are things we can discuss at another time.”

“Wait, why?” The hard look from Luna answered all questions. “O-Oh, yeah.”

“I am familiar with the Slenderman.” Luna spoke again, eyes gazing now at Twilight, turning towards the younger mare as she did so. “It is one of the eldest and most horrific tales I have ever read. However, now it may come to our advantage, you, Rainbow Dash, and I.” Twilight absorbed the words of the princess like a dying mare and water.

“I don’t understand your highness.” The gaze Luna offered Twilight reminded the unicorn so much of the comforting aura Celestia gave during her lectures.

“Young Pip has displayed many symptoms pertaining to the tales of Slenderman, of the humans that fell into his twisted grasp. The fear of the light, the paranoia, sickness and the like.” Twilight nodded her head in understanding, checking off the list in her mind. “Yet, as Rainbow Dash has said in my case, the possibility of another pony knowing of these is low and unlikely.”

“Then… are you saying that this Slenderman dude really did this?” Dash sounded doubtful of herself, finding the words she was speaking hard to believe. A shake of Luna’s head answered her words.

“No, it is not a thing of reality. A tale for the fillies and colts of old to stay away from the forests and avoid the darkness, for in those times, other, more real, dangers lurked. No,” she spoke again. “The meaning of my words is two-fold. On one hoof,” Luna lifted one of her crystal hoofs into the air. “There must be a pony who knows of these tales other than Twilight and myself.”

“And on the other hoof?” Rainbow ventured, unsure of what the other finding was.

“There must have been a pony following Pip.” Twilight concluded for the princess, a proud smile on her face. “That severely limits the number of possible perpetrators in this, right Princess?” The smile had yet to fade from her lips.

“Correct, Twilight Sparkle,” the dark alicorn spoke with a smile to her, though far more subdued. “I doubt that there is much else in this room that can aid us. However, we must now search elsewhere.” Without waiting for a response, Princess Luna strode from Pip’s room, entering again the unblemished halls of his home, his mother nowhere in sight.

“Where?” Dash asked the princess’s retreating form. “We have a suspect now, and that’s definitely sweet, but unless we have someplace to look, it doesn’t really do much. I mean, sure we could look everywhere, but what would that do?”

“You ask the wrong question, Rainbow Dash.” Luna reprimanded lightly at the pegasus. The three walked from the home, princess in lead. Dash followed close behind her with Twilight at her side. “There is not a place we must search, not yet. What we must do now is question others regarding Pip’s whereabouts in the days to weeks prior. Somewhere in that time, a pony took an eye to him, no doubt the same pony that took him on my last night, and a pony that I intend to see punished and fearful by my next night’s end.” The darkness in her voice was unmistakable. Dash didn’t miss the small shiver that ran down Twilight’s body. It was impossible for her to miss the one that ran down her own.

“Well, that’s good too, but there are like hundreds of ponies in Ponyville, and we have no idea of knowing every pony Pip knows.”

“Then we narrow it down.” Twilight spoke up, pride in her voice. “Pip may have been seeing the Slenderman by some other pony’s trick, but as his mother said, his sickness was very real and very bad.”

“Yeah, and?” Dash led Twilight to continue. They turned down a street, still following the princess in front of them, near blindly. All three ignored the crowds that parted and ponies that bowed.

“Well, his mother wasn’t sick so that means that he didn’t get sick at home.” Dash nodded at the unicorn’s words. “That means that he would have had to have contracted his illness somewhere else. But, since he is still a colt, it’s likely that whatever he came down with wouldn’t affect a full grown mare or stallion as easily. That means that we should do two things.”

“And those are?” In answer to her question, Twilight did magic. The unicorn lit her horn with a just a spark of her imagination. Immediately, two numbers sparkled above her head, outlined with the same lavender aura as her coat, mane, and eyes.

“One,” Twilight began, crossing off the number that followed her every step. “We look for other ponies who have an illness similar to Pip’s if we know where he got sick, we may be able to find a pony who was following him there, or even responsible for it.”

“Okay, yeah, I got that. And the second thing?” With those words from Dash, the last number above Twilight’s head was given a magical slash.

“He definitely spends most of his time around other foals, so asking his friends is the best option for finding out the finer details than any other pony’s passive observations.” The unicorn smiled at the pegasus who kept her attention focused. “Thankfully, there’s one spot in Ponyville where we are likely to find both of those things.”

“The school.” Luna finished for the unicorn, her trot ceasing as well. Twilight turned her attention to the dark alicorn, beaming with excitement.

“Yes! That’s-” Her voice died on caught breath as her lavender eyes saw where they were. Just beyond Luna’s billowing mane stood a familiar building to many of Ponyville’s youth, complete with the red walls, playground, and large bell tower. The School House. The unicorn found her eyes wide and jaw lax at the sight. Rainbow was little different. “How did you-”

“You are wise for your age Twilight Sparkle, never will a pony deny this.” The princess turned towards the younger mare, smiling with a caring, yet slightly devious, grin. “But so too am I wise for my own, and I am far older than you. Do you disagree?”

“Don’t respond to that Twilight.” Dash cautioned next to the shocked unicorn. “I know Rarity and I know word traps when I hear them. No matter how you answer that, it isn’t going to be good.” The pegasus then felt her wings extend quickly before retracting against her side, the shock of the voice she heard.

Princess Luna was laughing just before her.

It wasn’t a bellow or scream, nothing in the range of which Pinkie Pie would dare to command, but it was still audible and proud, unhindered by any restraint to remain regal or in control. The princess’s cheerful voice slowly subsided into a giggle before she regained her composure, smile still present and wide upon her face.

“You are wise as well, Rainbow Dash.”

Without another word, and without motion to follow, the dark alicorn trotted towards the school building again. The pegasus and unicorn were quick to follow. The sound of an active class was clear even through the wooden walls of the structure. A few voices answering questions from an elder mare, learning with a practiced pace and small amount of joy. Twilight found herself smiling at fond memories. Dash found herself scowling at horrific nightmares.

Luna saved no ceremony as she approached the door of the building. Lifting her hoof, she rapped on the door twice, loud enough to cease the speech of the class. A muffled voice, doubtlessly the teacher, spoke beyond the wooden frame. A moment later the door opened. The mare fell back in shock. Dash started to wish she had kept count of the number of ponies that had done that today.

“P-Princess!” The pink pony spoke in shock, earning a collective gasp from the fillies and colts beyond the vision of the party of three. Luna nodded one towards the shocked teacher, wearing a smile fitting for royalty.

“Good morn’ subject,” The princess of the night spoke with her authoritative tone. “We request a minor audience with your class. There are questions one of your fillies or colts may bear fruit to answering.” The pink pony took a few deep breaths, eyes still wide and mildly terrified at the sudden appearance of the imposing figure. But with a lick of her lips, she regained, most, of her composure before speaking.

“Y-Yes, of course.” She spoke while standing. “Please give me only a moment and I’ll give you the floor.” Luna gave a respective nod of her head. Dash leaned close to Twilight before muttering in her ear.

“Was it like that with Celestia all the time? I mean, they’re both princesses, but is it really so terrifying?” Twilight leaned into the pegasus before responding herself.

“Close, but usually it’s more embarrassment than fear. A close metaphor would be… Scootaloo around you.” She heard Dash scoff and chuckle at the comment.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” They leaned away from one another as the voice of the teacher rose up from the room.

“Attention class?” A collective call of ‘Yes, Ms. Cherilee’ rose from the young crowd. “We have a very special guest today. I want you all to be on your best behavior. She wants to ask all you young geniuses something very important, understand?” again, the collective sound of ‘Yes Ms. Cherilee’ rose from the room. “Very good class! Now, please say your proper greetings to our royal guest, Princess Luna!”

At the call, the dark alicorn trotted forwards into the room. Twilight gave Dash a questioning look, one that the pegasus returned in kind. The lavender mare glanced inside again, seeing Luna already standing in front of the class of young ponies. Her dark eyes didn’t even glance towards the pair. With a small sigh and a shrug of her shoulders, she spoke to Dash.

“We can just wait here, I’m sure she’ll call us in if she needs us.” A smile blossomed from Dash’s lips, turning from a simple smile to her famous grin. That worried Twilight to no end. “Whatever you are thinking Dash, please save it for later.” The pegasus blew a breath of air from her nostrils.

“Attention my loyal subjects.” Princess Luna began, earning the attention of the pair and, doubtlessly, the class inside. “I am here looking for a… friend of mine.” Hushed whispers flowed from the room like a gentle mist. Noticeable, but nothing unexpected. “His name is Pipsqueak Pinto, a classmate of yours.”

“Um, Princess Luna?” A timid voice spoke from the back. Biting her lip, Dash leaned her head into the classroom, taking a peek at the filly that had spoken. She didn’t recognize the young pony, a unicorn with a pale purple coat and bright blonde mane. Cute, adorable even, but no pony she knew. “I think Pip has been absent for… um… a week now.”

“Yes, I am aware.” Despite the coldness of the words, the unicorn and pegasus could feel the patience and comfort on her voice. Must have been another practiced trait for princesses. “The reason why I ask you all is because I believe one of you may know how he contracted his illness. Do not fear, I am not here to judge or condemn any of you.” It was hard for Twilight not to groan. It was impossible for Dash not to snicker, hiding her muzzle into the coat of the unicorn next to her. A reprimanding look was all the pegasus received. “I merely wish to know how young Pip fell ill, so that I might better be able to help him.” Dash froze.

“Wait,” she whispered quietly to Twilight. “Did she just-”

“Yes.” Twilight spoke quickly. “And that is the exact right thing to do.” The pegasus lifted her face from her friend’s coat, looking at the unicorn with an incredulous look. With a sigh, the mare quietly spoke more. “Do you really think telling a room full of foals that one of their friends has been foalnapped is the right thing to do?” The questioning look from Dash fell in an instant, her hoof rising to scratch the back of her head.

“I might be able to help princess.” The voice made Dash freeze.

She knew that voice, she knew extremely well.

“What do you know, little one?” Dash and Twilight heard the princess ask. The pair looked inside as one, Dash hovering just above Twilight. They followed the gaze of the dark alicorn to the filly that she spoke to. Dash was having trouble on deciding what to do, laugh or gasp.

“Pip told me he did something wrong.” Scootaloo answered in a hushed voice.

Macrotus

“Scootaloo,” Princess Luna spoke with an air of surprise. “I wasn’t aware that you were in this class. Do tell me, what is it that Lil’ Pip did?” All eyes in the class turned to the orange foal. Any eagerness she had withered and fell under the oppressive gazes.

“Well...” she trailed off. “I know… something, but… I promised him I wouldn’t tell anypony and… like… he was really worried about it, too.” The hard gazes had yet to soften. Scootaloo found the ground a sight for sore eyes.

A still silence filled the classroom as the filly stopped speaking. It took all of a moment for Luna to realize the situation she had placed the young pegasus in. A sigh of disappointment left her lips before she turned back towards the teacher of the class, her own eyes focused on Scootaloo as well.

“Cheerilee,” the dark princess began. The teacher was looking back at the princess before the first syllable had ended. “It is our request for Scootaloo to join me and my companions outside to speak. Does this conflict with you?”

“Oh no!” The pink earth pony quickly denied, forehooves shaking off the comment as if it was poison. “Please, by all means, speak to her outside. Scootaloo,” The filly’s eyes begrudgingly left the floor to look at her teacher. “Can you talk with the princess outside? I’m sure that will make you feel more comfortable.” It wasn’t hard to see the filly shift in her seat.

“Do not fear Scootaloo,” Princess Luna spoke again. “There are simply a few question I must ask that I believe you can answer. The young Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash outside are here to help as-”

She didn’t have time to finish her sentence.

As soon as the name of the prismatic pegasus was mentioned, Scootaloo was out the door in a puff of smoke. Luna stood dumbfounded at the front of the classroom, holding back the urge to cough.

“Rainbow Dash!” The sound of her name being shouted was all the heads-up the pegasus had before being plowed by a rather powerful pony. She felt the air leave her lungs as her legs lost balance, sending her to the ground. She heard a giggle from above her. It didn’t take her long to know exactly who had taken claim to pouncing on her.

“Hey there Scoots,” Dash spoke affectionately to the younger pegasus. She raised a forehoof to ruffle the purple mane of her young fan. The filly squealed in delight. “So how’s it hangin?”

“I was just bored to tears in class when Princess Luna came in.” She almost absently noted. “I mean, it’s hard to even act bored when one of the princesses is speaking to you. But when she said that you were helping her, I was just so excited I had to run out to see you.”

“Well duh,” she began. “Who else do you think the princess of the night would trust with serious assignments other than the most awesome pegasus in Equestria?”

“Because it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you spoke with Rumble and that you were with the pupil of her sister.”

“Yeah, nothing at-” For just a moment, Dash forgot the importance of breathing.

Her head quickly whipped to see Twilight Sparkle, hiding a smile beneath a raised hoof. Her coy lavender eyes were nearly sparkling with her namesake. Dash could only raise her brows as she lowered her lids.

“Oh, so Luna was looking for you?” The pegasus admitted. Gently moving the filly off of her, she stood to her tallest next to the unicorn. “You sayin’ that I’m not good enough to help the princess?” Dash kept her face straight as an arrow and still as windless air. The drop in Twilight’s features from confident to worried was nothing short of hilarious. Dash felt the muscles in her face itching to split into a cocky grin. She held herself strong.

“Wha- No no no no. Of course not Rainbow, no!” Twilight mumbled and shot out in a frantic tone. “I-I was just trying to… to use word play in a jesteric manner similar to how you and Pinkie Pie interact. It… It sounded better in my head, using ironic tones while stating factual events that occurred in the past…” Her eyes darted left and right, searching for the right words to say. Any control that Dash had to hold her lips steady slowly left.

“That Scoots,” she began to the younger pegasus. “Is how to scramble an egghead.”

Scootaloo fell to the ground in a fit of laughter. Dash wasn’t far behind.

Her stomach clenched hard as she rolled back and forth across the ground, holding her hooves over her underside in a vain attempt to relieve the pressure. For every breath she took in, her body forced out on chopped breaths of giggles, chuckles, and resounding laughs. Scootaloo did much the same, flailing her legs in the likes of a tortoise stuck on his back.

“That was mean, Dash.” Twilight’s voice was barely heard over the mirthful laughter of the two pegasi. The unicorn sighed as she kicked the ground. “I thought I seriously offended you.” Dash turned back over onto her four legs, taking, and releasing deep breaths of air. The smile that was draped over her face was nearly painful.

“Aw, c’mon Twi’.” Dash spoke over fitful laughs, her breathing doing little but softening their volume. “It was just a little fun.”

“That’s what I thought I was doing, but then you sounded like I had… insulted you, unintentionally obviously, but still.”

“Yeah, after you totally tried to do the same thing to me.” Her words were met with a pout from the unicorn. Dash hadn’t dropped her smile yet. Scootaloo hadn’t stopped laughing yet. “I just turned your little ‘wordplay’ back on you. That’s like the whole point of being clever in a conversation. What? Did you think I was just gonna say something uncool and let you get off scot-free?” Twilight turned from pushing her lip out to lightly nibbling on it, eyes twisting away from the prismatic pegasus. Dash put a scoreboard up in her mind.

Rainbow = 1. Twilight = 0.

“S-So…” the unicorn mumbled and stuttered out. It was a bit more than obvious she was thinking as she spoke, something the pegasus had come to the conclusion was best left to ignore. Then again, she wasn’t rambling about a new spell or duplication trick. This was her trying to one-up the most awesome pegasus in Equestria. That couldn’t happen.

“So…” Dash trailed off for Twilight, causing the unicorn to look back up at her. Her eye went wide for just a moment, an expression Dash could say was like catching Spike misorganize the books in the library. But then her expression turned stern, and if possible, a bit cocky with the way her lips were pulled to one side. Rainbow beat back the idea of flaring her wings.

“So then… I don’t have a chance at beating you… in anything?” Dash couldn’t have worn a more self-satisfying expression if she tried. Mainly because she was trying.

“Nope, no way.” She agreed adamantly. “Sorry egghead, you’re smart an’ all, but you aren’t gonna beat me. I mean, I am the most awesome pegasus in Equestria.”

“No pony can possibly beat you?” Rainbow let her face turn from confident to incredulous. A snort of air left her muzzle before she responded.

“Course’, I did smoke the competition in The Best Young Fliers and I can pull of a Sonic Rainboom on command. Let’s not forget I’m the only pony who can keep up with Pinkie Pie in a sugar rush.” Something shined in Twilight’s eyes.

“Not even the princesses?” Before even uttering a word, Dash blew a stray strand of green out of her eyes, striking a pose with a hoof to her chest, wings flared, and head held high.

“You kidding? I bet I could fly circles around Celestia, and I haven’t even seen Princess Luna flap those wings of hers. Give us a race and I bet I’d be able to leave them eating my dust.”

“I will do well to remember that, Rainbow Dash.”

Dash’s wings hit the ground in shock.

Her ears folded back against her head, eyes wider than before with a mouth turned 180 degrees. Her forehoof, once pressed against her chest, fell limply to the dirt below, unable to process the idea of putting weight on it. During all of this, only one thought pushed through her head.

‘Oh crud’

Rainbow swallowed a ball of water in her mouth, taking a deep breath to follow it. Her fur stood on end as a cold chill ran through her. She only just realized then that Scootaloo wasn’t laughing anymore either. Dash let her eyes flicker over the orange coated pegasus. The filly was still on the ground, tiny wings spread and back on the dirt, but her eyes were looking up and backwards, gazing at something behind Dash’s back. Rainbow swallowed again, this time on nothing. Hesitantly, she turned her head, craning her neck to see the figure just behind her. It was no mystery what her wide pink eyes fell on.

Rainbow = 1. Twilight = 1.

“Y-Yo Princess…” Dash stuttered uselessly under the cool gaze of the dark monarch. She had a smile on her lips that wouldn’t have been able to fool a foal.

“Yo… Rainbow Dash.” Luna replied in kind, her voice as cold as the cyan pegasus felt. Dash swallowed again, which was odd to her, as her mouth was oddly dry.

“L-Listen, your majesty, Luna, um-NO, Princess Luna. Yeah, that. Um…” the pegasus stammered uselessly as she turned to the monarch, already lowering herself to the ground. “That was all just me… doing… um...”

“Please,” Princess Luna spoke at Dash’s pause. “Do tell what you were doing.” The pegasus was close to drawing blood with the strength of her teeth biting her lips.

“I-I-IIiit was…” Her pinks eyes looked everywhere they could but at the dark alicorn in front of her. For a quick moment, she turned her head back to Twilight, looking desperately at the mare. The unicorn looked back into Dash’s gaze, raised a hoof to her chest, and cocked a knowing grin. Rainbow had never felt the need to throttle some pony more than at that moment. On a shaking breath, she turned back to Luna.

“I-I was just running my mouth off your highness.” She spoke honestly. “I like the idea of being the fastest, you know, the best, first place, and all the big words that are synonyms for that.” The giggle for Twilight was anything but inaudible. “I-It’s kind of what I do. A lot. Constantly. Like right now. But I-I meant nothing insulting to you. You’re awesome, way awesome.”

“More… awesome than you?”

The question earned a very wide gaze from Dash. Anymore and her eyes would be given room to roll from their sockets. The chances of her fainting were also increasingly high, as her inability to breath seemed to extend for a long period of time, the question hanging in the air. That was until Dash’s pink eyes, wide enough to nearly see behind her, caught site of the oddest thing.

Princess Luna was smiling.

“Wait a second…” Dash began carefully. Her hoof rose from the ground, pointing at the monarch twisting around her frame to aim at Twilight, then back to Luna again. All the while she kept a mortified face. “Did you two just prank me?”

Laughter was the answer she received.

A low sigh left the pegasus’s lips as her features fell. Wide eyes squinted, open jaw into a frown, and brows knitted together. Her pink eyes looked to see Twilight in a position scarcely different than her own only a few minutes prior, holding her hooves to her under frame as laughter spilled from her lips with barely contained volume. Her eyes were shut as the bliss overtook her. Scootaloo had only resumed doing what she had done before. Even Princess Luna, mighty and powerful monarch of Equestria, had a hoof to her lips as a distinct chuckle left her hidden lips.

Dash’s sigh turned into a groan. She rolled her head to the sky and back the ground, taking a breath of air as she did so.

“Alright, fine, you all got me. Happy?” The laughter quelled little with her words.

“Extremely so.” Luna admitted with a fitting smile still hung from her lips. The cold eyes from before were now gazing at her with an almost mirthful warmth. It was the most confusing look Dash had ever received from some pony, aside from the fluttering eyes Twilight had given her some months back.

“Y-Yeah.” Twilight stuttered out between her fitful laughs, eyes still screwed shut with everything but pain. “Y-You... Y-Y-Yoooooouu…” Whatever her words were, they were drowned out by the rising cacophony of her delight. Dash sighed at the sight and sound. It was hard to stay mad at a mare like her, especially for doing something she, herself, always did.

“Alright, alright, calm down.” Dash tried fruitlessly with the unicorn and pegasus foal. Her words did little more than earn eye contact from the two before they broke out into another fit of laughter. Rainbow gave another curt sigh as her head hung itself. That was just before an idea popped into her mind. For once, it wasn’t an idea she was keen on doing.

“Hey girls, we seriously need to focus now.” The rumble of laughter died only in volume. “Seriously, we need to start looking for Pip again.”

That did it.

Like telling her Celestia was planning a surprise visit, Twilight ceased her laughter with a long breath of air, letting her eyes widen as far as her chest grew. She was still like that for a moment, look wide eyed and guiltily up at the pegasus. Slowly, she rolled onto her side before pushing herself up onto her four hooves.

Dash gave a quick look towards Luna, seeing her expression fall back from the amused grin and gleam to a cold gaze of seriousness. She felt the chill of the princess’s night creep over her fur under those hard eyes. But just as Dash was building the nerve to look away, the princess let out a sigh of her own, letting her gaze return to the ground.

“Yes, you are right Rainbow Dash.” The dark alicorn confessed. “Now is not the time for idle chatter or amusements. Young Pipsqueak needs us.”

“What do you mean needs you? Isn’t he just out sick?” Three pairs of eyes turned to the youngest of the group. The orange filly, immediately shied away from their collective gaze. Lowering herself to the ground. “Did… Did I say something wrong?”

“No, no,” Dash spoke quickly, trotting over the younger pegasus. “Sorry, Scoots, that’s not it all. We were just… I don’t know a word for it.” The pleading look to Twilight was something the mare didn’t miss.

“Unprepared for it,” the unicorn offered. Dash nodded in agreement, though Twilight spoke on. “Scootaloo, there is something important we have to tell you, but you can’t tell anypony else.”

“A secret?” The filly guessed enthusiastically, her tail rising into the air as a smile slowly split across her face. It only made the pair of mares bite their lips.

“Yes, Scootaloo, a secret indeed.” Princess Luna spoke commandingly as she moved towards the young filly. Dash back away respectfully. “We carry a grave secret of unimaginable importance. Very few know about it, but we have decided that we can trust you with it.”

“How much of that is true?” Dash whispered quietly to the unicorn beside her. Twilight answered back just as softly.

“Less than a third.”

“Is Equestria in danger?” Scootaloo asked the dark alicorn. Even to Rainbow, the filly looked a bit too happy when asking that kind of question. The monarch, for her credit, didn’t pay it any mind.

“Nay, Scootaloo,” she continued. “We carry news of Pip that few others know.” She paused as the pegasus foal looked up to her with beaming eyes, begging for more. Luna did not disappoint. “He is in more danger than illness alone can cause. Over the storm of the night passed, he was stolen from his home, taken by a pony we do not know. However, there are many clues that we have gathered, and ideas that need to be tested.”

“And… you think I can help.”

“You are as intelligent as your idol.” Luna complemented Scootaloo before she continued. “Yes, indeed. You claim to know of something Pip has done, something that may lead us to the trail of his… captor.” The word was clearly chosen carefully. The young foal nodded as the princess spoke. “We believe that with your aid, finding Pip, safe and sound, is near guaranteed.

“But…” the foal began quietly, her head turning away from the monarch’s intimidating gaze. “I promised him that I wouldn’t tell.”

“And promises are meant to be kept, yes.” Luna agreed easily. “But Scootaloo, this is no longer a question of punishment for him, but a means of which to find him. It is nothing that he would feel any guilt or ill will towards you for telling us.” Despite the kind, if cryptic, words from the dark alicorn, Scootaloo continued to avoid Luna’s eyes.

“But… if I did tell you, then I wouldn’t be loyal to him.” That’s when her eyes fell on Dash. “Being loyal to my friends is the most important thing to me.”

If the situation were any less serious, Rainbow would have been able to wear a confident smirk, declare the statement fact, then fly off into the sunset with the filly on her back. Now, however, she knew that playing the idol was not something that would benefit anyone. So instead, she let a comforting smile push itself over her lips as she trotted back towards the younger pegasus.

“You got the right idea Scoots,” she began, settling down on all fours by the filly’s side. Scootaloo looked at her wide eyes with an equally wide smile. “But you’re missing something important.” Those words were all it took for the smile to fall.

“What’s that? Did I do something wrong? I swear I didn’t tell any pony. I didn’t even need to pinkie promise!” Dash suppressed the rumble in her chest as she answered the worried pegasus foal.

“It’s nothing bad, really. In fact, I’m sure Pip would be extremely proud to hear you kept his secret so well.”

“Really?” The filly asked nervously, lips between her teeth as she gnawed at the thin layer of skin. Dash let herself enjoy a small laugh before she continued.

“Seriously, yeah. But,” she raised a hoof to Scootaloo. “He wanted you to make that promise. So he wouldn’t get in trouble, right?” The filly shifted her hooves over one another at the question. Dash let a knowing smile, one that usually rested on Twilight’s lips, to settle on hers. “You did a good job of doing that. But, now that he is in trouble, telling us what he told you will help him. Do you think you can do that?”

In spite of the comforting words from her mentor, Scootaloo continued to fiddle with her hooves and legs, even beginning to twist her tail between them. Her gaze never once landed on Dash.

“It… It isn’t what he told me,” The young filly began carefully, eyes still transfixed with the ground beneath her. “It’s what he showed me.” That earned a questioning gaze from the mares around her. Dash let her wing move up and down the filly’s back, comforting her as much as she could. Scootaloo smiled bashfully at her gesture.

“So…” the prismatic pegasus began carefully. “Did he have a treasure map, or… something else?” Her voice was leading to what she hoped would be the promise Scootaloo was keeping so… aggravatingly well. The filly shook her head lightly, letting her head pull back to between her shoulders.

“Pip said he wanted to go on an adventure, a-and he knew just the spot to try. But… but said he needed an adventuring partner to go with him.” Princess Luna leaned in close to the orange filly, Dash moving away gently to allow the monarch room. With a kind smile, she spoke to Scootaloo again.

“And where did Pipsqueak ask for you to join him?” The pegasus foal took in a deep breath of air, looking for all the world as if she were about to confess to a crime. Swallowing on nothing, the filly answered her.

“The Everfree Forest.”

“So, Pip brought you this deep into the woods?” Dash asked the filly in front of her. Said pegasus was looking left and right at the trees that moved passed them, looking over them for familiar signs that no other member of the party would be able to recognize. She turned her attention to the prismatic mare briefly, with a wide smile, before answering.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo spoke. “He said that being an adventurer meant being brave, but that it also meant keeping someone close in case things went wrong.”

“Smart colt.” Twilight praised lightly behind the two. She caught the image of Luna nodding her head in agreement, the ghost of smile tracing her lips.

“That’s what I thought. And I mean, heck, I thought I could earn my Everfree Explorer Cutie Mark… but it didn’t work.” The fall in the pegasus voice wasn’t anything Dash could have missed. With her trademark smirk, the older pegasus trotted to the filly’s side, wrapping a wing around the orange coat.

“Aw, cheer up Scoots.” She spoke lightly to the younger pegasus, who looked up to her with that same praising expression. “That’s nothing to be worried about. You got the most awesome pegasus in Equestria teaching you the tips and tricks to flying now. I bet you’ll get your Cutie Mark in no time flat now.” Those were complemented now by a wide smile.

“She works well with Scootaloo.” Princess Luna commented lightly to the unicorn next to her. Twilight nodded in agreement, never letting her lavender eyes move from the pair. The larger pegasus walking in tune with the younger, wrapping a wing around the small of the two. Even to her, not wrapped in its embrace, the gesture looked warm, comforting, protective… maybe even a bit possessive. She still couldn’t name a reason why she wouldn’t want to be in Scootaloo’s physical position right now.

“Yeah, Dash is good with foals.” Twilight spoke to the dark alicorn. “She has a whole fan club back in Ponyville, but that went to her head for a short while.” The unicorn felt the incredulous look from Luna before she turned to see it. “Don’t get me wrong, Rainbow is the most loyal pony I know, always will be, but she can easily think highly of herself.”

“Yes,” Luna admitted. “Or so the exchange from prior had shown.” Her sapphire eyes watched the two ahead of her, observing as the younger of the pegasi pair leaned into her elder, clearly relishing the touch of the other. It brought a smile to her features. “She does deserve a fair share of the praise she receives.” Now it was Twilight’s turn to smile.

“That’s true, and most ponies forget that.” A curious look from the princess as they continued to trot was all the queue Twilight needed to continue. “Dash comes off strong to a lot of ponies. It’s hard for her to be patient about a lot of things. For her, it’s easier to just rush in and fix whatever is going wrong, no matter how complicated it might be. But more than once, that’s what’s often saved us. If I had stopped to think about a lot of things, there wouldn’t have been anytime to do them.” The smile on her features grew as she ducked under a branch. Luna trotted around the tree, eyes never leaving her.

“So it is a fair assumption to say you admire Rainbow Dash?” The bewildered look from Twilight was clear. Of all the questions she had been expecting, that was not one of them. The unicorn gave a glance towards Dash and Scootaloo, seeing them still just as many hooves forwards as before, moving in and out of the paths of the trees. And still Luna’s questioning gaze never left her.

“Well…” Twilight rolled off cautiously. “I guess admiration is possibly what I feel for her. But… it is something a bit… deeper.” She kept her eyes from falling to the ground by staring ahead. If there was one thing Twilight did not want to see, it was Luna’s curious eyes.

“Deeper than admiration?” Luna’s voice carried all the curiosity her face could offer. “Why, Twilight Sparkle, to me it sounds as if you care for her beyond the bonds of friendship.” The unicorn kicked a stone in her path. Luna did not miss that. She leaned in close to the lavender mare, eyes watching her sister’s student carefully.

“Do you?”

There was no need to question the meaning behind those words.

Twilight bit her lip for another time, sure now that it must have been bruised beneath her lavender coat with the amount of force she had put on it. She screwed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them, afraid that she would trip over a tree root with shut eyes in the dense forest. It did, however, give her an excuse to watch the ground over looking towards the questioning alicorn.

The idea that Twilight was being drilled on was nothing she hadn’t already asked herself a hundred times before. Judging her feelings for her friends was nothing too new. It was how she was able to tell that they were friends at all. It’s hard to call someone dear or trustworthy if you don’t think of them any differently than any random pony on the street. But what happened when that became more? What happened when it was no longer realizing you cared for them, but wanting them to care for you?

It was a series of questions that had filled her mind for some time. She couldn’t find a single source material that gave any clues on how to deal with the situation, and it wasn’t dire enough that she felt the need to ask Celestia for help. No, it was just a problem, an equationless and factless issue that she had to work out. But for now, Princess Luna needed an answer. Filling her lungs with air, Twilight spoke.

“This is it.”

Both unicorn and alicorn turned their attention forwards, looking now into a clearing more open than any other section of the forest before it. There were no tree roots pulling at the ground, no rocks jutting from the soil. Aside from the grass, the area of the forest was perfectly, completely, clear.

“Gotta say, I didn’t expect this.” Dash admitted as she trotted forwards, eyes looking around her as she did so. Scootaloo followed close behind her. “Nothing awesome, but compared to the rest of the Everfree, just thought it would be… I don’t know… creepier I guess.”

“Be thankful your wishes were unanswered, Rainbow Dash.” Luna spoke as she entered the clearing with the pegasi pair. “Wishing for horror only invites harm.” Dash put a hoof behind her mane, scratching at her rainbow hair. “Scootaloo,” Luna addressed the orange foal. “Can you show me in what areas Pipsqueak explored? I theorize that you and he separated at one point, else you would also be ill.” There was a flash of recognition in the filly’s eyes as the words washed over her.

“Yeah! It was a little after we got in here. He said he wanted to be like Daring Do and explore an area alone. Something about coming back with a lost treasure.” It took Dash a great deal of control not to let out a bark of laughter. Twilight, however, let out a breath of air as the filly led the alicorn away. She shook her head, collected her thoughts and trotted into the clearing as well. Dash flew up next to her quickly.

“Scoots has a good head on her shoulders. I don’t think I would have been able to find this place twice unless I was in the sky.” Dash admitted to the unicorn beside her, trotting behind the dark monarch and filly pegasus.

“Don’t sell yourself short Rainbow.” Twilight argued back. “I’m sure if one of us had gone missing, you would have found this place easily enough.” Dash gave the unicorn her trademark grin.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. There’s no way I’d let anything happen to you.” Twilight was ready to respond, but found herself unable to. A blue wing, strong and well-shaped, wrapped round her midsection, pulling her against the pegasus’s side. A gasp of surprise left her lips as the sensation, but no part of her mind or body argued with the feeling.

“So what did Luna ask you about?” Rainbow whispered quietly to Twilight. “I heard everything up till she asked… about us.” It was hard for Twilight to state the reason for her inability to breath. The question that caught her off guard or the close contact with the pegasus. She landed on neither, deciding that a far more logical reason would be a spasm in her diaphragm. Hopefully it would pass soon enough that she wouldn’t suffocate.

“Uh…” Twilight wheezed out through her barely audible voice. It only forced Dash to lean in closer to her.

“Sorry, didn’t hear that.” Dash asked the unicorn. Twilight tried to scream, but found the ability to sigh far more rewarding.

“She… she asked me about our… relationship.” She was able to glance over and see confusion written in the pegasus’s eyes. “She was curious about how I view you as a friend, and whether or not that… was all.”

A blanket of silence was hung over the two of them. Really, all Twilight could hear was the shuffling of hooves from Luna and Scootaloo. She let herself look over at them, watching as Scootaloo talked to Princess Luna like an old friend, and the dark monarch smiling down at her, nodding with every word. She only wished she could hear what they were saying. That was about when she let her eyes turn back to the pegasus beside her. Breathing became difficult again.

Dash was staring deeply at Twilight. Her eyes were half lidded, lips parted just enough to see inside her maw. Her breath came out in small pants, tickling the ends of Twilight’s senses as the air passed over her. The breaths themselves felt puffy and warm. She felt unnaturally hot and stuffy.

“D-Dash?” She stuttered out towards the pegasus, but Rainbow paid her no mind, still peering deeply at her. Slowly, her head began to move forward, inching closer and closer to the stunned unicorn. Twilight found her eyes growing wider with every amount of space that was filled between her and the pegasus. Her legs refused to move, neck still as stone, and heart racing faster than she dared even Dash to move.

Twilight shut her eyes, clenching them tightly as she prepared for whatever the pegasus had in mind. Would it be warm? Gentle? Would she be pushed to the meadow ground? Oh Celestia! Luna! Luna was right there! A-And Scootaloo! What was Dash thinking? Did she want to do this now? Why couldn’t Twilight come up with a single reason to try and stop her?

“Yo, Twilight.” The voice wasn’t from in front of her, or even close to her. Reluctantly, Twilight opened her eyes, letting the blurry world clear as her lids slowly opened. Dash was nowhere in sight. She saw Scootaloo pointing and waving at the clearing’s end, Luna listening intently to her as she spoke, but Rainbow wasn’t there. Twilight forced her stiff neck to twist, looking around her for the prismatic pegasus.

She saw Dash no less than forty hooves away, waving her over towards her.

Whatever Twilight felt, words couldn’t describe.

“C’mon Twilight, I think I found something.” The unicorn let out a curt sigh as she turned away from the pegasus, donning a neutral gaze with her eyes before turning back. She trotted easily over to Rainbow’s side, following the pegasus’s gaze. Her lavender eyes found an object hung on a tree.

There was nothing spectacular about the tree. It had as many leaves as any other, no limbs broken, no perfectly symmetrical parts or orientation. No animals were housed within or around it, no glaring deformities or desirable traits. It was a perfectly average tree.

The note attached to it was not.

Mayhem

“Okay, you know how I said before the room was creepy,” Dash began, hoof waving over the paper. “This kind of turns it up to eleven, maybe twelve.”

Twilight could find no reason to disagree with the statement of the pegasus. She felt her hoof cover her mouth, hoping that it would be enough cover to hide her slack jaw and open lips. Her eyes however, could do little more than stare horrified at the simple piece of parchment portraying a far from simple message.

Everything about it told her that they were on the right track. Princess Luna was correct in her assumption that this was where Pip contracted his illness, Twilight was right that it was likely the only time the foalnapper was alone with the young pony. But leaving this note, a symbol that could be taken as nothing less than a warning, what did it mean?

Was this pony on to them already? Was he, or she, preparing for others to follow the obvious clues? And if that was the case, then what was the end game? Intimidation? Fear? If anything, all it did was confirm that they were on the trail of the foalnapper.

It didn’t make any sense.

“Hey princess!” Twilight heard Dash shout next to her. “We found something you really need to see.” The unicorn let her eyes move from the note briefly enough to see the dark alicorn and pegasus filly trotting closer to them. Scootaloo still held the expression of a curious foal, but Luna appeared just as stern as she had when they met in the town square.

“What is it Rainbo…” Luna’s voice trailed off, her eyes doubtlessly finding themselves on the page hanging from the tree. For whatever reason the unicorn could name, the air seemed heavy to her, making the contraction of her diaphragm more difficult than normal.

“Dash?” The voice of the youngest in their group spoke up. “What’s that?” True to her name, the pegasus dashed to an answer.

“Nothing to worry about Scoots.” She spoke so easily, it marveled Twilight. Unfortunately, the unicorn was focusing too hard on her ability to breath than to bother giving Rainbow the proper look of appraisal she deserved. “Just proves that you were right on the bits about Pip coming here.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.” Dash put her hoof over the filly’s purple mane, ruffling her hair. “You really helped us out. So-URGH!” Twilight gave a glance towards the pegasus when she heard the grunt, but returned her gaze to the ominous paper as she saw Scootaloo giving a ferocious hug to her prismatic maned friend.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” The filly’s cheers didn’t give any sign of dying out any time soon.

Twilight licked her lips as she let her lavender eyes run over the paper again. The paper and ink were unmarred aside from the simple nail that kept it attached to the tree. There was no running, cracks, bleeding, or any other signs of age about it. That meant the paper couldn’t have been exposed to the elements for long.

“This is not what I expected to encounter here.” Twilight didn’t have to look to know that it was the princess speaking just beside her. “I was hoping for hoof prints, perhaps a discarded piece of clothing or cloth, but not a… taunt.”

“Logically speaking, the foalnapper must have been aware of the trail being left behind, but then why would he try and do this rather than cover it up?” The unicorn asked her question aloud, rubbing a hoof down her leg. Her hair was standing on end, and breathing had yet to become any easier.

“Perhaps… Pip returned here without Scootaloo’s presence, and he used this as a means to attract him.” The theory developed as the princess spoke, but Twilight lightly shook her head.

“That’s unlikely. This page looks new, very new, and Pip was sick for almost a week under the constant care of his mom. There’s no way this has been out here for that long, especially with the rain storm from last night.” She bit her lip as she finished, letting her mane fall over her eyes.

Something was wrong.

“So then… the fiend placed this sometime today?” Luna spoke the fact as if a question, raising a hoof to her chin in thought. “That seems rather bold for any criminal, yet unwise for a crime such as this, where discretion would be the greatest defense.”

“Y-Yeah.” Twilight agreed, with all the enthusiasm of a terrified Fluttershy. Her tail curled around her form, hugging her coat as her forehoof wrapped around her shoulder. Despite the lack of change, she felt… exposed somehow, vulnerable. “Maybe… i-it’s a trap?” That earned the curious gaze of the lunar princess.

“A trap?” Luna inquired. “However would you think that?” Something wasn’t right. Something was very wrong. Twilight’s mind was spinning in three different directions. What was going on with her? Was the air supposed to be this thick? Was the note supposed to be this obvious? Was she close to Dash? Where was she?

“Twilight Sparkle?” The muffled voice of the ruler washed over the unicorn, gaining neither attention nor reaction. Instead, the lavender pony stumbled forward, hooves knocking against one another as she dizzily made herself move. Her body swayed with every step she took, each one feeling heavier than the next.

There was a rumbling in her ears, like a tiny dragon snoring into a pillow. It was loud enough for her to recognize, but there wasn’t anything to focus on. Just like her vision. There was some brown, a lot of green, a little blue, but no shapes, no lines. It wasn’t long before there was only one thing she could describe in any detail. That was the pain rising from her gut.

Twilight emptied her stomach behind a tree.

“Twilight!” The shout of Dash pierced her sick haze, like a sharp ring of a bell while she was submerged in water. With the thickness of the air, she felt like she was in water. A groan rolled from her sore throat as she felt her body being pulled backwards, against any kind of force she had.

A cool sensation washed over back, something wet and clingy. She couldn’t tell if it was mud, tears, or even a river.

She just felt very tired.

Consciousness returned with a fresh breath of air.

Twilight sucked in a precious and near hallowed pocket of oxygen, untainted by Carbon Dioxide or Nitrogen particles. She felt her diaphragm straining itself to allow in as much of the precious air as possible, stretching the alveoli in her lungs to their maximum size. Her chest groaned in appreciation.

Her eyes drifted open, hazy colors all she could distinguish, but dark colors. There wasn’t any bright blue, no soft green. There was just a dark blanket with patches of brown and a rainbow of colors swimming around it.

The breath left Twilight as the sky blue returned again, squeezing her chest tightly. She wheezed in dissatisfaction.

“Thank Luna you’re alright.” She heard the voice speak clear as a crystal. It was soft, but hardly collected, each word falling over the next as they came out. Twilight raised a hoof to push against the color gripping her, succeeding in only straining her leg.

“Allow her some space Rainbow Dash.” Another voice spoke from above, far more collected than the one she heard before. The grip around her left, hesitantly as the shivering objects over her chest were evident of.

The colors around her gained edges and curves, turning form blurs into definable shapes. It wasn’t until she began to see stars high above her that she realized she was on her back, looking upwards into the night sky. Where did the sun go? How long was she out for? Her head shook lightly, focusing her jumbled mind.

Her body twisted slightly, allowing Twilight to push herself back onto her four hooves. As soon as she did, she quickly took a seat. All of her limbs felt like twigs, ready to snap under the smallest of forces. She felt a familiar feathery appendage wrap around her, holding her steady.

“What happened to me?” The question left her lips before she was aware of the thought.

“I am not aware how, or even when, but it appears that you have contracted some illness similar to that of Pipsqueak Pinto.” Luna’s commanding tone stated. “Your weakness is clear, the vomiting even more so.”

Twilight nodded slowly at the words. The princess was right, that she couldn’t deny. Still, she thought, with a bit of her lip, it was an odd sensation, displaying the symptoms of the foal they were searching for. From the illness or not, she felt her nerves jitter on edge.

“And… where are we now?” This time, the answer came from just beside her.

“Just outside the library.” Dash answered earnestly. “Since Pip probably got sick in there, there’s no way we’re gonna keep you in there.”

The unicorn continued to nod her head, blinking her eyes as well. That made sense as well. It would have been poor judgment to try and treat her illness in the very area they suspected it originated from. Her lips felt dry, but she spoke nonetheless.

“Should… I go to the hospital?” Twilight asked carefully, lavender eyes peering up to the taller alicorn in question. A tight lip and stern eyes were the reply the unicorn received for a moment, only before the princess released a slow sigh.

“No.” She admitted. “Unlike Pip, who I was unaware was in need of aid, I was able to treat you quickly. Rest should be the only thing you need to recover from this short, but dangerous, ordeal.”

A sigh of relief rolled from her lips before she realized it was there. Her ears didn’t miss the same sound coming from the pegasus next to her.

“But seriously, thank Celestia that… Princess Luna was there.” Rainbow awkwardly praised, earning a raised brow from the monarch in question. Dash moved her attention to the unicorn still in her winged grasp.

“I mean, when you spewed out breakfast and lunch, I thought you were going down for the count. Scootaloo and I were freaking out, badly. Scoots just kept asking what was happening and she wouldn’t let go of me, a-and I didn’t know what to do so I was yelling too then.”

“Dash.” The calm whisper of her name visibly calmed the pegasus, who was growing more and more agitated with every word she spoke.

“Sorry,” she muttered in an almost bitter tone. “Princess Luna though, she did her mega voice to shut me and Scoots right up. She told me to take Scootaloo home a-and to meet her outside the library, here, where we are now.” Twilight nodded, keeping calm as Rainbow clearly was losing that state of mind.

“It took much convincing for Rainbow Dash to listen to my words, however.” The dark alicorn continued where Dash left off, earning the gazes of both ponies. “She was more than simply determined to stay by your side. When I was able to sway her into taking Scootaloo home, however, she hesitantly agreed. That was when I levitated you onto my own back and took off for here.”

“It… couldn’t have taken that long though.” Twilight listed out loud as her eyes looked skywards. Luna followed her gaze, gaining a smile of adoration for her night.

“In truth, Twilight Sparkle, the day had escaped us during our visit to the Everfree, so by my return here, it was time to begin my night. Nevertheless,” the princess spoke, earning back her train of thought. “I deduced that some form of infection had contaminated your bloodstream. It is still unclear just how you obtained it, but it required only simple spells of transfusion and purification to set your body back into a proper state of care. The oxygen was something… new. A recommendation from a colleague back in Canterlot.” The talk of medical knowledge brought a smile to Twilight’s lips.

“The delivery of pure oxygen is a sure means to reactivate the hemoglobin count and activity within the veins and capillaries of the body.” Twilight listed automatically. “It’s from Dr. Careheart’s Case Report of long term patient care, usually in the recovery of leukemia or other blood deficient conditions.”

“Yeah, I’m stopping the nerd talk before it begins.” Dash spoke before Luna could let air pass her lips. “Sorry, but I hate being left out of conversations, and there’s no way I’ll have anything to talk about with medicine and stuff. Besides, we got just a few more important things to talk about.” Luna gave the pegasus a harsh gaze before speaking again.

“Yes….” She conceded with another sigh. Twilight hesitated to think that Dash was annoying the princess, more than necessary at least. When the dark alicorn let her eyes fall upon the unicorn and pegasus again, however, the eyes were not those of a ruler. They were, dare Twilight say it, tired eyes.

“As my night has risen and my court is near, it is unlikely that I can continue to search for Pip. However, and I use this in the lightest of terms, your misfortune with the illness came at the opportune time. You can now rest while I perform my court. Tomorrow, I will begin the search again.” That tired gaze Twilight watched with unease turned almost pleading.

“May I trust you two to with aiding this search again?” The question was as unneeded as a starless night.

“Of course!” Dash was unendingly enthusiastic with her words. “There’s no way I wouldn’t help out with this! It’s like I promised Rumble your highness, I’m gonna find Pipsqueak.” A relieved smile washed over the alicorn’s features.

“I agree with Rainbow, Princess Luna.” Twilight spoke up, still in the embrace of the pegasus next to her. “I’m sorry that I didn’t see… this coming, but I’ll use counter measure spells and wards tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll find the pony behind this, and see to it that he’s brought to the courts.” The smile along the lunar princess’s lips turned joyful.

“Good, excellent.” She spoke with a comforting sense of peace. “Then I must be off.” As elegant as her night, the wings on the alicorn’s back began to spread, extending to their fullest length with the soft light of the moon above shining down upon them. The feathery appendages flicked once, twice, then the princess was hovering in the air.

Eyes skywards, Princess Luna ascended into her starry night, her coat a match to the dark canvas of the lights. Her form grew smaller and smaller as she flew higher and higher. The two remaining ponies watched the alicorn fly into the night, disappearing from sight.

“I’m going to head inside then.” Twilight announced to Dash.

“Yeah, no kidding.” The sarcasm was as thick to the unicorn as the air that seemed to surround her still.

“Not just because I’m… not doing alright.” Twilight explained with a thoughtful expression. “I have a feeling that if the foalnapper is using the Slenderman tales as a means to intimidate and frighten Pip, and us, then he might have left a few clues he wasn’t aware of.”

“Like what?” Dash asked back.

“I don’t know… something. Maybe… maybe he took Pip to a specific spot the Slenderman takes his victims, to keep Pip in a state of distress. That could easily create a level of Stockcolt Syndrome would he, or she, be able to play the part of the Slenderman as well as a fellow captive.” Dash’s brows rose with every word Twilight said.

“That’s… some serious thinking.” Twilight waved the comment off.

“It’s just a spontaneous idea. The point is, there’s never such thing as too much information. If I can learn all these small details about Slenderman, I might be able to have a better idea of where to look tomorro…” Her voice trailed off as a wide yawn ended her sentence. Dash couldn’t hide the smile that grew across her face.

“You’re adorkable when you yawn like that.” A light push on her shoulder was all the response Twilight gave, though done with half lidded eyes. “But be careful, the princess told you to rest, and I don’t want you reading all night. Maybe… Maybe I should spend the night again.” This time however, the lidded eyes of Twilight gained a hard edge.

“No,” she spoke adamantly. “If I am sick still, the last thing I need is the guilt that I got you sick as well. I’ll be fine, honest. When was the last time I disobeyed a direct order from a princess?” The light jab at herself did the trick, putting an easy smile back on the lips of the pegasus.

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry about that.” Dash admitted with a hoof behind her head. “Can’t blame me for being too careful though, right?” Twilight released a small giggle before responding.

“Good night Dash,” the unicorn spoke easily, already trotting home. “I’ll see you tomorrow with Luna.”

“Yep, bright and early. Oh and Twilight?” Said unicorn stopped to look at Rainbow. “Make sure you take it easy. Like I said before, I don’t’ want anything bad to happen to you.”

“Thanks Dash.” Twilight replied easily, allowing a calm smile to spread over her lips. “I’m sure I’ll be better by morning. I’ll see you then.”

“Yeah.” With that, Dash took to the skies.

The blissful feeling of air rushing past her wings made her previous smile turn to a bright gleam. The rush of speed, the freedom of the air. It always seemed to free her from the reality of regular life. Especially on a night like tonight, cloudless over Ponyville with Luna’s stars high above her. The euphoria of flight almost felt like receiving a gift after the day now passed her. She took it graciously.

Her lithe body spun and dove through the air, heedless of any obstructions in her path. Thankful, there were none. No cloud, no pony, nor any other object in the sky she could touch. She was totally and completely free.

Dash let her body begin an ascent, rising into the dark sky above, guided by the stars that hung in the air. She let the visage of the town below quickly shrink until it became nothing but a small collection of dots along the expansive field it was made in. Flaring her wings, she stopped herself.

She let herself hang in the air, suspended high above the world, away from the sight of any prying eyes or wandering curiosity’s. Luna had her night, Twilight had her books, but Dash… Dash had her sky. She had the entire skyline to enjoy, to sail and soar and embrace with her speed. She couldn’t name a time she didn’t enjoy the sensation of air passing through her feathers.

Gravity slowly reclaimed her, pulling her to the ground far below. Dash let herself fall like a ragdoll, descending through the sky free of her control. Breath was dragged from her as the wind rushed past her. The smile across her features had yet to fall. The force of the wind fighting her muscles almost made her drool.

Then with a flare little different than before, her wings caught the air, pulling against it with strength few other pegasi could conjure. Her muscles groaned under the pressure, fighting the incredible amounts of drag force against them. Dash’s smile had opened further with glee.

Her descent quickly slowed, the wind grabbing at her eagerly, helping her to fight the pull of gravity. She felt her insides continue to pull against her the forces of inertia holding truer now than they ever did out of a text book back in flight school. Slowly though, carefully, she reached a speed that was anything but deadly, letting her hooves slowly touch down on a wisp of cloud hanging in the air.

As soon as Dash’s hooves touched the spongy material, her legs gave out beneath her, leaving her to pant with the remnants of the flight still inside of her. It was brief, quick, and there was no other way around that. The whole display had taken her all of a few minutes to perform, but it was still something she never tired of.

Turning onto her back, she let the starry night of Princess Luna surround her vision. There were no trees, no homes, no clouds or wisps of smoke. There were only stars above her, bright and brilliant. She never had really cared for them before. Granted, she never thought they were boring, but it was just a none too gentle reminder that even the largest things in life are easy to miss. Twilight had taught her that. Twilight had taught Dash a lot.

She rolled over onto her stomach, letting the cool touch of the cloud suck away the heat permeating from her coat. A low sigh of relief rolled from her lips as it did. The ground below wasn’t nearly as visible as the sky above. Just dark shapes and even darker shadows. It was easy to tell when the moon wasn’t full in Equestria. Dash’s pink eyes rolled over the vast landscape, looking for anything that was interesting enough to keep her attention. Something, anything, that could give her an excuse to stay on the cloud and not fly back home.

Rainbow saw just that.

It was brief, quick, but noticeable enough for it to not be a mistake. It was small shape, smaller than her if she was on the ground, but bright enough to easily be visible against the light of the stars. It darted back and forth across the ground, hiding from building to bush to tree to building again. Dash watched with wide pink eyes, keeping track of it’s every move.

Despite all the zigzagging she saw it doing, she could tell easily enough it was traveling in a certain direction. It was hard for her to tell without looking away, but it looked like it was heading south. There were a few places that were towards the south. The outer edges of the Apple Farm, Fluttershy’s home, a few wild animal fields, nothing that she could think of that would be interesting this late at night.

Dash licked her lips, leaning further over the cloud as she nestled herself into the spongy substance. The figure was so familiar to her, the color, the size, but something about it was just… off. The thing stopped briefly, hiding underneath a house awning. It was huddled close to the wall, looking back and forth over the empty night street. That was when Rainbow got a good look.

She was looking right down on Scootaloo.

For just that moment, Dash forgot to take a breath. Confusion riddled her mind at the sight of the filly scurrying around the town so late at night, and without another pony around her either. Not to mention the clearly deceptive nature of the way she was moving. Everything about was just… wrong. What was she doing? Where was she going? She had dropped her off at home, so… what was going on?

A part of her was close to flying down and asking her, jumping right in front of the filly to gain her answer. But another side of her, a side she really hadn’t ever cared to listen to, said to wait, to watch, to be patient. Three things she hated almost as much as Discord himself.

Scootaloo began to move again, still heading further and further south. Dash followed close behind, high above on her small cloud. The filly slowly left the borders of the town, entering the open fields clear of any domestication. That was when the foal really took off. She was no runner, not without her scooter, but she certainly had energy. Dash flapped her wings a bit harder to keep pace with her, unconsciously biting at the soft material she laid on.

The question of where Scootaloo was going kept nagging at the prismatic pegasus. There was nothing more out here. There wasn’t really any need for her to go to the Apple’s farm, especially if Luna had offered her food. It would be pointless to go to Fluttershy’s house this late at night, let alone her being gone. Why would Scootaloo want to be out here?

Dash didn’t think of the answer, she saw it. Her pink eyes traced the path the filly pegasus was running, straight and truer than her zigzagging from before. There was only one thing that she was running towards, one object that was impossible to miss.

The edge of the Everfree forest.

When Dash stopped above the forest’s edge, the orange foal jumped in without second thought. It took Dash just as much time to start to follow up above.

Dash glided high in the air, being sure to watch for the clouds that could block her path. A small drop, a twist left, a flip right, but never anything that could be considered a turn. Her path was straight and sure, following an object that was far below her, scurrying through the dense forest.

Her pink eyes traced the orange object, darting beneath the canopy of the trees, visible only by the brightness of her coat. It darted left and right between the trees, slowing for nothing, but quickening with every few bounds of open space it had. Still, it was nothing that Dash had any trouble keeping up with.

Rainbow let her eyes turn skywards for a moment, looking ahead for any obstructions before looking back down. The small form of the pony below still moved ahead without patience. But that was when something else caught her eye. It wasn’t any one object or thing, rather, it was a collection of them. She recognized the tree the small form below jumped over. She knew that rock the orange coated filly pushed off of. It was hard to forget something she had seen just hours prior.

Little Scootaloo was following the same exact path she had shown them earlier.

Dash bit her lip as a million and one thoughts filled her mind. There were so many possibilities to consider about this, and she didn’t have the brain capacity of an egghead to sift through them all. Was Scootaloo trying to search for Pip as well? Did she remember something that she didn’t want to forget again? Had she hidden something from them? It all seemed… possible, but then all around improbable at the same time. Rainbow let herself drift lower to the canopy’s cover, grabbing a floating cloud to hid herself as she did so.

Sure enough, just as she had thought, the familiar clearing appear just ahead, Scootaloo popping into the open. The young filly looked left and right as she surveyed the open area, unchanged aside from the fresh set of hoof prints left behind not too long ago. One part of Dash wanted to fly down and confront the filly, demanding answers to the questions that were flying around her head like parasprites. But another, more cautious, part of her, a side she usually ignored, told her to wait. Listening to that side of her made her scoff. Twilight really was wearing off on her.

Scootaloo didn’t do much more than wait herself. The filly bounced around the open section of the Everfree forest. It was impossible to see anything besides what her body was moving. Dash couldn’t see if her eyes were wide with panic, scrunched in curiosity, or twisted with malice… the last one was born in her mind but drifted from her thoughts faster than even she could catch it.

But slowly, the filly stopped moving, her eager spinning and bouncing ceased. Soon, she started to relax on the forest floor, the small opening that gave her a view of the sky above. Scootaloo turned onto her back, looking high into the night air.

That was when her eyes found Dash.

A stiff moment was left between the two, both frozen where they were. One with fear, one with confusion. Scootaloo jumped to her hooves, quickly barreling for the forest again. This time, however, Dash didn’t wait. The prismatic pegasus flew right in front of the orange coated filly, stopping the foal right in her path.

“Scoots.” Dash spoke evenly, to the filly, watching as the orange pegasus shivered beneath her gaze. “What are you doing here?”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

It was a reply quicker and more cryptic than Dash expected.

Scootaloo back pedaled against the grass in an attempt to turn, but Dash caught her with her own forehooves. She didn’t know what was more confusing, the fact that Scootaloo was out here at all, or the degree of which she was trying to run from her.

“Scootaloo!” Dash spoke just shy of a shout, earning a quick shudder followed by a stiff posture from the filly. Rainbow heard Scootaloo swallow on something before she looked up. Those eyes were filled with guilt. Dash’s were filled with confusion. “What in the hay are you doing out here? Forget just not being in bed, why are in you the Everfree forest?” Now the filly’s gaze fell from Dash’s own. “C’mon Scoots, I’m not mad at you. I’m just… you know we were looking for Pip out here…” she let her voice trail off. What she wanted to say, she couldn’t say, not to a filly like Scootaloo.

“…ink…” The low mumble from the pony in her hooves caught Dash’s attention instantly. The cyan mare leaned closer to the filly.

“What was that?” Scootaloo answered only by curling in deeper to herself. She wasn’t making this easy. “C’mon Scoots, you know I can’t just walk away from this without some kind of explanation of some kind.”

“You wouldn’t get it.” The utter loathing in the tone turned Dash’s confusion into shock. Her neck bent back with wide eyes, mouth open just enough to let a stray fly have entrance. Of all the things she could imagine Scootaloo doing, out right pushing her away was last on the list. Below last, not even there.

“What wouldn’t I get?” Dash tried again. Her hooves slowly released the filly, letting her settle her four hooves on the forest floor. Still, Scootaloo avoided her gaze. At least she wasn’t running. “Scootaloo. You’d be surprised what I can understand. I bet that there’s nothing you can say I won’t believe.” The filly’s head whipped to match her gaze.

Dash saw nothing but anger in those small eyes.

“You’re lying!” She accused outright to her mentor, screaming. Dash didn’t just gasp, she stepped back. “That’s what everypony says! They say that there’s nothing wrong with it, that I’m brave, or smart, or… or other dumb words. But then all they do is just pity me.” Her voice snarled as she looked away, her eyes glaring into some part of the Everfree Forest Dash couldn’t see. All the prismatic cared about was the filly just in front of her, biting with a voice that would give a Timberwolf pause.

“He’s the only one who’s ever understood.”

Any kind of shock or fright Dash had left at those words.

“Who Scootaloo?” The filly turned again to her mentor, trying to bare her mad eyes with a snarl, but was met only with her idol standing far above her, wearing a gaze that was as commanding as the princess’s voice. The strength in the filly slowly left her. “Is he the same pony that took Pip?” Now those eyes widened in fear. It was sick, it was wrong, but Dash couldn’t suppress the feeling of achievement at the sight.

“Yo-I…” Scootaloo’s voice stuttered and died, slowly backing away. For every hoof step she took backwards, Dash took one forwards. The cyan pegasus let her wings flare with her trot. Kindness didn’t work, so a little force would have to do. It was good to a nice pony, up until being nice no longer mattered.

“Tell me Scootaloo.” Dash’s voice was anything but kind. “Who are you waiting for? Who is he?”

“I-I… I promised.” The timid voice whispered. Now Dash was snarling.

Scootaloo jumped as her mentor’s hoof slammed the ground beside her. The pegasus’s face was right in front of her own, pink eyes nearly red. Scootaloo was nearly in tears at the sight.

“You promised to help hurt another pony? You promised that would keep a foalnapper safe?” The filly’s eyes began to leak liquid. Dash didn’t relent.

“All you’re doing is keeping the wrong kind of promises here Scootaloo. I got it before, I understood then. You didn’t want Pip to get in trouble.” The tension slowly ebbed from her muscles, lettering Dash’s face relax to a far more calm position than the snarl she held it in just before.

“I’m glad you want to honor those kinds of things. But,” Her voice sharpened like a sword’s edge. “You don’t keep promises that hurt other ponies. Ever!”

Scootaloo flinched at the rise in volume, hooves curling under her petite frame. The tears had yet to stop.

“I-I-I-B-B…” The filly’s lip quivered horrendously as she tried to regain control of her slipping emotions. She rubbed at her eyes with a shaking hoof, clenched her teeth with a trembling jaw, but all she succeeded in doing was curling closer to herself on the ground.

Her whimpering cries soon followed.

Dash stood above the miserable foal, her eyes losing their edge as her mind cooled itself. The miserable sobs that emanated from the filly tore down no walls within the brash pegasus, but they did succeed in ebbing the stress from her thoughts. With careful trots, Dash put herself next to the terrified Scootaloo, draping a wing over her.

The filly quickly huddled into the warmth of her elder’s fur, letting her bitter tears stain the cyan coat of Dash. Rainbow spoke nothing as she did so, no words of comfort or questions for her more than curious mind. Instead, she listened to her other side again, the side of her that Twilight had nurtured through their frequent contact and many talks. A low sigh left Dash’s lips as she realized that.

The sobs of Scootaloo turned into low gasps, eventually falling into the gentle breathing of a calmed mind. Though Dash’s coat was stained still with the salty liquid, cooled to a frigid temperature against the cool night air, no more of her fur was stained by the filly’s torment.

“Scootaloo.” Dash whispered carefully to the filly, earning a turn of the young pegasus’s head.

“Huh?”

“What are you doing out here?” Rainbow felt Scootaloo curl deeper into her side, pulling at her wing like a comforting blanket. It was hard to tell the foal off. “C’mon Scoots, I’m not going to get mad. Not again.” She leaned her head close to the smaller pegasus, nudging her gently. “You gotta help Pip, now more than ever. No pony will get mad at you for breaking this kind of promise.”

“How do you know that?” Dash barely heard the words mumble from beneath her, muffled by her own coat and Scootaloo’s hanging head. Fortunately, the elder pegasus was ready for this one.

“Because I’m promising you that I’ll protect you, just as long as you help me out here.” That earned the adoring gaze of the filly again, looking up at her with bright hopeful eyes. Dash returned it with her signature grin, never once losing her composure. “And that’s the kind of promise you’re supposed to keep.”

The hopeful eyes turned into a joyful smile, tears collecting again at the edges of Scootaloo’s vision. She bit her lip, pensive about letting another bout of tears to fall. She held them back, but it looked almost as painful as letting them out.

“O-Okay.” The filly agreed. “I promise I’ll help, for real, honestly.”

“Awesome. Now,” Dash began slowly, making sure with every logical part of her mind that Scootaloo knew how serious she was. “Who foalnapped Pip?”

With an equally serious expression, the twist and bend of features familiar to one who was preparing to betray a dear friend, Scootaloo spoke the name Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Luna had searched the entire day for.

“The Slender Man.”

Author's Note

Duh, Duh, Duuuuuh

Monster

“Slender Man?” Dash echoed the filly with a questioning tone. One brow lowered itself to the bridge of her nose, the other raising itself till it matched her hairline.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo replied evenly, lips tightening into a straight line. Her hooves fidgeted against one another just as they had before, the same as every time Dash caught her trying to hide something. It looked like it took all her concentration to simply focus on the elder pegasus.

“Yea- no.” Rainbow spoke as she pressed a hoof to her head. She did her absolute best to not grind her teeth in aggravation.

“What?”

“Scootaloo, this is a really bad time for a joke.” Her eyes narrowed on the filly, debating on whether to leave her in the forest. “I just caught you in the Everfree Forest, at night, with a foalnapper still out there. Making jokes about promises with him is a bad idea, saying you spoke to some make believe monster is even worse.”

“I-I’m not making him up!” The younger pegasus shouted earnestly. It only earned a slow sigh from Rainbow.

“Yes, you are.” Her tight voice spoke. “He’s a myth, a legend. No, not even that, legends are… revered is what Twilight would say. He’s a footnote of some dumb mare’s tale so old that even the princess had problems remembering it.” The pink eyes of Dash were hard as they glared at the younger pony.

“B-But… h-he is real…” A slow growl came from the back of the elder’s throat.

“No. He’s. Not.” Dash spat each word like it was a sour apple. “Scootaloo, I really don’t have time to deal with… more lies.”

“But I’m not lying!” She shouted again, tears were hinging on the corner of her ducts. Dash easily overlooked them through her own tight gaze.

“Oh yeah?” She challenged. “Then tell me how the hay you met him. Did he come to you late at night and offer to tuck you in? Bring you a snack? Or did he take you to school? Maybe he offered to teach you how to fly.” The filly’s face grew mortified with every word Rainbow spoke, every syllable, a different nail driving into her. A blow to the face would have been merciful.

But as Dash watched closely, focused on the foal beneath her, the features of horror morphed into expressions of rage.

“No! That’s what my mom is supposed to do!” The tears trailed down her face. Dash backed up, never losing her expression of anger. “My mom is supposed to tuck me in. She’s supposed to give me snacks, take me to school, and teach me to fly!” She hiccupped at the end of her scream.

“What the buck does that even-” Dash didn’t get to finish her question.

“He was there for me!” Scootaloo shouted again, almost bouncing off the ground. “He kept me safe when my mom was too busy! He taught me how to read, to walk, to do… everything! He’s the only one who ever had time for me!”

“That doesn’t make any-”

“I’m always the one trying to be with other ponies!” The filly was on a full on tantrum. Dash watched on unamused. “Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle always expect me to go to their house! I had to guilt you into becoming a teacher for me! I can’t even get my own mom to pay attention to me!”

The filly took several deep breaths, eyes wide with tears and lips turned into a deep scowl. Dash had her own eyes furrowed, watching the filly carefully. It was hard to take anything seriously with the way she was acting.

“But he came to me.” The coldness of her voice was enough to turn Dash’s anger into confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“He…” Scootaloo bit her lip, turning her gaze to the forest wall surrounding them. It only steeled her determination to speak. “He spoke to me in my mind.” Rainbow made her hoof rub circles around her temple, alleviating the growing pain inside her head.

“This is getting stupid now.” She let out irritably. Scootaloo continued on.

“It’s… It’s like how the Princess talked to me. It’s all these bright colors, and images, and things, and… and everything I didn’t think was possible. But then he’s there, and it all makes sense to me.” The subtle tones of happiness in her voice were about as obvious to Dash as literary errors to Twilight.

“Okay Scoots, cut the crazy talk.” Dash let out in an exasperated tone. She trotted closer to the younger pegasus, but found the distance between them only increasing as her target backpedaled away from her.

“I’m not lying!” She shouted again, her aggravation as apparent as Dash’s own. Neither pegasus was in a position to give.

“Yeah, you are.” Rainbow commanded back. “The Slender Man is just some stupid story. Look, I get it if you wanted a friend. I’ll even tell you that I had a make believe friend growing up, too.” The words only succeeded in getting the filly to shake her head wildly.

“No! He’s real!” She shouted again. With a tight sigh, Dash continued on.

“No. He’s. Not.” Her voice punctuated once more. “You wanted a friend so you made one. Just cut the act now. You don’t need to lie to me about being out here.” Dash waited for Scootaloo to shout again, to demand that Rainbow apologize, that she was anything but a good older sister.

All she got was the almost statuesque image of a heart broken filly.

“H-He is real…” She muttered miserably. “He… He-He made sure I was safe and-and he did such a good job of making me feel safe. How… He is real…”

Dash’s hoof met her head for the second time that night.

She dragged the appendage down slowly, letting it ruffle the fur on her muzzle before slipping free and falling back to the ground. Every part of her wanted to be angry at Scootaloo in some kind of way. The protective side of her was furious a foal like Scoots would be in the forest given everything else going on that day.

The logical side of her, given birth only by Twilight’s presence, was fuming with the idea of how little sense the filly pegasus must have to think an imaginary friend was a valid reason to be in the woods. Then the last side of her, the competitive and sporadic side of the pegasus, was grinding her teeth at the idea of some imaginary friend being more trustworthy and believable than herself.

Did Scootaloo seriously think that thing was real? Did that mean that she, Rainbow Dash, one of the most loyal ponies in Equestria, looked like a bully, trying to make some foal cry? The idea nearly burst a vessel in her mind.

With a low sigh, Dash set her vision back on the smaller pegasus, just a few poor words away from picking the foal up and flying her back home. She half expected to see Scootaloo crying on the ground.

Instead, Rainbow saw something far more… confusing.

Scootaloo was smiling.

“Scoots?” Dash asked hesitantly, her trot forward ceased and pink eyes squinted curiously at the filly. Scootaloo’s eyes were wide, unfocused, but held above a content smile Dash had seen more than once on more than one pony. Still, she’d never seen it in the middle of an argument, in the Everfree Forest, with a foalnapper on the loose.

“Scootaloo?” She called the filly’s name again. Her forehoof waved in front of the filly’s eyes, trying to gain their focus. Dash only succeeded in pushing air.

“This ain’t funny squirt. Cut the act.” Like the command of a hypnotist, Scootaloo began to move again. The smile however, never left her lips. Her wide eyed gaze looked up to Dash. It was impossible for the elder pegasus to miss the look of absolute adoration in her eyes. Something about it was… unsettling.

Before Dash knew it, she had taken a step back. The younger pony didn’t seem to even register the movement. Her adoring eyes and content smile continued to cling to her face, sending chills along the wings and bones of the pegasus the night couldn’t match. Her mouth was going dry. Something was very wrong.

Then Scootaloo spoke.

“He’s here.” Dash turned in a flash.

And there it was.

The creature hung over the trees as if they were bushes, its figure thinner than any of their branches. The blackness of its suit darker than the shadows it must have emerged from.

It didn’t sway, falter, or even twitch. It was still as the dead, and doubtlessly just as silent.

It looked down at the two ponies beneath it, a face of nothing but a patch of white, more malicious than even the most twisted of grins.

Dash didn’t scream. She didn’t move. She couldn’t breath.

She knew what it was, who it was, and only feared what it wanted to do.

The Slender Man.

“You’re back!”

The joyful shout of the filly made Rainbow draw in a cold breath of air. Her wide and unblinking eyes looked at the orange foal, already jumping up and down with excitement at the figure. Dash quickly moved her eyes back to the monster.

Scootaloo, however, was anything but terrified.

“I told you he would come!” She declared to her elder like it was a bet. “He promised me he would come if I came here, and he did! I wasn’t lying and you were wrong!” The filly laughed as she finished her taunt. Dash felt her face paling beneath her coat.

“S-scoots…” She spoke the filly’s name on short trembling breath. “R-Run… now.”

The Slender Man continued to silent peer at her, unmoving and uncaring.

“Why?” The foal asked generally curious. “He’s not gonna hurt us. I told you, he’s my friend. We promise each other lots of things, play together even. Right?”

Dash felt a ball grow in her throat as the pale head turned towards the smaller pegasus, still higher than any tree in the forest. Scootaloo started giggling.

“Yeah!” She eagerly cheered, for a reason Dash couldn’t even comprehend. She sounded too happy, too proud, and far away from unafraid.

That’s when Dash saw Scootaloo gallop to the monster’s side.

Her breath returned to her in a flood of strength.

“Scootaloo!” Rainbow shouted at her loudest. It didn’t stir the monster or the filly now standing next to it with undeniable happiness. One was still as stone, the other bouncing with clear excitement. Her confusion was only overridden by her terror.

“Calm down Dash.” Scootaloo playfully said again. “He’s not gonna hurt me, see?”

All Rainbow saw was a long spindly hoof, complete with claws as white as snow, reaching for the filly. All she felt when they wrapped around the vulnerable pegasus was absolute fear. It felt like spiders were crawling across her coat, and ice freezing the blood in her veins.

“Hee hee, you’re kinda cold.” Dash didn’t think.

She beat her wings faster than she could kick her hooves, pushing off the ground with everything she had. She flew towards Scootaloo and the monster, barreling towards them without a single thought of slowing.

They were right in front of her, just the brush of a hoof’s length away from her reach. She reached out, ready to grab Scootaloo right from the monster’s grasp.

Then they were gone.

Flaring her wings, Rainbow just stopped herself from barreling into a tree. The ends of her wings burned with friction and fatigue, the burst of energy they had gone in an instant. Her hooves touched the rough bark of the natural structure with a rough force, earning a grunt of paint as the traveled along her legs. Still for a moment, she fell to the cool dirt beneath her.

It took her only a breath of air to gain her strength back, standing on all four with wings flared and eyes wide. Her eyes darted left and right across the opening in the forest trees, looking for the monster or Scootaloo.

“Scootaloo!” The foal was nowhere in the open plain.

“Scootaloo!” The filly was nowhere in the sky.

“Scootaloo!!” She wasn’t behind any tree.

“SCOOTALOO!!” Scootaloo was gone.

The tears collected and fell in an instant, blinding the pegasus with her sorrow and regret. The strength in her limbs was gone, the pride in herself vanished. Weak gasps turned into pitiful cries as her legs gave out, sending the miserable pegasus to a heap on the ground.

Sprawled across the dirty floor of the forest, choked sounds echoed around her, mocking Dash’s failure. Her hooves scratched uselessly across the floor, drawing themselves closer to herself. She felt cold, she felt miserable, and she felt alone.

Her mind was as much a mess as her body was. Every thought was a mockery of her failure, how blatant Scootaloo’s words were, and how much she truly believed them. If Dash had, then maybe they would both be safe. Maybe Scootaloo would be back at her home, snuggled in her own blankets, not caught and taken in the grasp of the monster.

That monster.

The Slender man was real.

He was in the forest.

Rainbow Dash was alone.

In a flash of blue, the forest was empty again.

“But she was a proxy,” Twilight began as she read the book lying on the ground in front of her. “No matter what she said, we couldn’t trust her. She wanted him to come. She wanted him to take us. We couldn’t trust her. We can’t trust her.” The unicorn felt a shiver run down her back.

She shifted her hooves along the pillow she rested on, absorbing the warmth beneath her. The fire by her side warmed her coat, gently pushing away the otherwise chilly night. Her magic enveloped a page of the book, letting her eyes scan to the next page.

“Maybe I should have waited for Dash to read this.” Twilight muttered to herself, swallowing on a ball in her throat. “It feels like I’m just setting myself up for nightmares.” She turned her gaze from the book to look towards a closet at the far end of her room. A flash from her horn opened the door, lifting a large blanket from within. It drifted through the air by command of her lavender aura, surrounding her as she told it to.

She still felt cold.

“Dash would probably kill me if she saw I was still awake.” With that quiet declaration, she let her eyes scan the next set of damaged documents, cemented into the book of mythology beneath her.

“Tom is dead, he had to die. I didn’t mean to do it… but I know I did. I, no no, I wanted to do it! He… he didn’t understand why I followed him. He’s the only one who we can trust in this fake world.” Twilight rubbed her hooves together fitfully, trying to generate a heat to combat the cold still enveloping her. It wouldn’t go away.

The unicorn’s eyes shifted over the rest of the documents on the page, seeing nothing but more sketches and pictures of things she could hardly recognize. At first glance, it appeared nothing more than a waste of perfectly good space for text. On reflection, it did more than an excellent job of turning the otherwise simple text into horrifying prophecies.

Her magical horn flipped a page, then two, then three. More pictures, more sketches, all in the sample black and white coloring that made water as clear as blood. That small fact unnerved her. When her eyes saw more words to read, she let her eyes focus on them attentively, reading the script out loud.

“Slender Man. Slender Man. All good children try to run. Slender Man. Slender Man. To him it’s part of the fun.” Twilight hugged the blanket around her closer. “Slender Man. Slender Man. Dressed in darkest suit and tie. Slender Man. Slender Man.”

The unicorn swallowed a ball in her throat.

“You most certainly will die.”

Twilight’s window shattered open.

Not even the magic of Discord himself could have suppressed the scream of terror the ripped from Twilight’s throat.

Her hooves pushed off the blanket, putting the terrified unicorn against the far wall of her room with near incomprehensible speed. Every fiber in her coat stood on absolute end as she pushed against the hard wood of the wall, plate wide eyes searching the room for the invasive object.

Twilight saw Rainbow Dash.

“D-Dash?” Her voice shook as she spoke, shock still permeating her nervous system, causing the random electrical impulses through her. The cyan pegasus looked up at her, form hardly visible with the fire light the only source of illumination in the room.

What little Twilight could see made her gasp.

The pegasus was a wreck, a husk of what she had seen only a few hours before. Her fur was matted with sweat and mud, eyes red and cracked, even her mane in far more disarray than the unicorn thought possible with any speed of flight.

Twilight lost the ability to observe anything else as the pegasus pushed herself into the unicorn’s form. She let out a gasp of shock at the suddenly cold feeling enveloping her. It was difficult to tell if the shivering was from her own natural reaction to the cold, or from Dash shaking against her.

“R-Rainbow?” Twilight spoke her name again carefully, still unable to quell her terrified nerves. For all the times and ways the pegasus had ever entered her home, this was by far the most alien of entrances.

She heard Dash muttered into her coat, in a low voice she couldn’t understand. Twilight only caught it from the feeling of hot breath that pushed against her fur, the only source of warmth she had in the moment.

“I can’t hear you.” She coaxed the pegasus to speak again. Twilight attempted to push Dash away, just enough to free her muzzle from her fur, but found the embrace of Rainbow too strong for her. Biting her lip, she spoke again.

“Rainbow, what is it?” The prismatic mane shook left and right against her. It was oddly comforting, the heat it generated. Regardless, a little bit of warmth wasn’t worth trading her for her friend’s current level of terror.

“Dash.” Twilight spoke again, putting strength into her voice. “What happened?”

The blue face of the pegasus looked up to Twilight. The unicorn gasped.

The red cracked eyes from before were wet with tears.

“I-I… I s-saw…” She bit her tongue, eyes suppressing a hiccup from the back of her throat. “I s-saw him.” The jumbled mind of Twilight calmed at the words as she searched the recesses of her memory for who Dash was talking about. An idea of who came quickly.

“The foalnapper?” Rainbow’s shivering froze, a quick gasp stalling her breath. That was all the affirmation Twilight needed. “What happened? Did he threaten you? Hurt you?” The pegasus shook her head harder and harder as Twilight’s fear grew greater and greater.

“Then what happened Dash? What did he do?”

“I-It’s not… not what he… he just did.” Dash spoke in what Twilight would only be able to describe as sobs. Every word unnerved her already spooked senses. She listened on intently. “He… H-HHe was just there, l-like what Scoo-” A rough hiccup silenced any words the pegasus wished to speak, placing a heavy ball in her throat she couldn’t swallow.

“Scootaloo?” Twilight finished the name in a voice that hid no fear. “Is she okay? What happened? Dash!” The unicorn lightly shook the ponies in her hooves, but it only made the pony hold her closer. It didn’t, however, stop the trembling words that rolled off her lips.

“She’s gone.”

Twilight felt her blood go cold.

“What?”

“Gone.” Dash spoke again, gripping the unicorn hard enough to bruise her beneath the lavender fur. “H-He took her. Gone. There then g-goone.” The tears returned again.

“Rainbow.” Twilight spoke as softly, but commandingly, as she could. “Let go of me.” She felt the hold against her stiffen. “I’m not going anywhere, but I can’t talk to you like this. Let me go.”

A tense moment filled her silent room, broken only by the light cracking of the logs in her fireplace. Dash neither moved nor spoke, muzzle and eyes pressed against the coat of the unicorn in her grasp. Twilight took slow controlled breaths. Her mind, however, raced with every possibility that Rainbow could possibly tell her.

Did they meet the foalnapper? How was Scootaloo involved? Did the foalnapper take her? Maybe Dash saw that, chased him, but he… out ran her? No, that was just impossible. Twilight knew she would have heard a Sonic Rainboom before Dash gave up a chase of any kind.

The logistical unicorn’s thoughts ceased as she felt the pressure around her slowly ebb off. The pegasus’s forehooves unlatched from her, sliding around the fur on her sides before placing themselves on the floor. Her head had yet to lift from Twilight’s chest.

“Rainbow Dash.” She spoke her friend’s name again, in as gentle a tone as she could manage. “Please tell me what happened.”

Small pops and gurgles emerged from the pegasus throat, unintelligible to the unicorn still listening intently to her. The cyan head moved over her fur, matting the lavender coat. Dash pushed her head closer, letting the side of her muzzle rub against Twilight’s underbelly.

“Dash.” The unicorn spoke again, patience wearing thin. “Please, please tell me what happened.” Hesitantly, she wrapped a hoof around her terrified friend’s neck, holding the mare close. It was more than likely it would do little more than silence the mare if she was pressed against her, but Twilight had more of a chance of understanding muffled words than absolute silence.

“I saw the Slender Man.”

Twilight had no idea what to think.

“What? Dash, serious-” She was cut off as the pegasus, inevitably, pushed herself back into the unicorn’s embrace.

“He’s real Twilight. As freaking real as my wings. Scootaloo told me he was, she told me. To. My. Face.” The unicorn felt herself being forced into a rock as Dash’s word quickly fell into the terrified ramblings. She listened on regardless, allowing her other hoof to rise from the floor and wrap around the pony.

“I thought she was lying. I mean, she had to be. A monster like that? Seriously? But he was real, so real. And he’s big, huge, GINORMOUS.”

“Alright, Dash-”

“A-And I couldn’t do anything, me, The Element of Loyalty!” A bitter breath of air coughed from Rainbow’s lips, and it took Twilight a moment to realize it was a laugh.

“He took her. Scoot's gone. Don’t know where. There then gone. Faster than I could even fly.” The discomforting familiar feeling of moistness seeped across Twilight’s coat.

The unicorn had no idea what to do.

Was Dash being serious? She had to be, she knew the limits of pranks, better than most ponies, and this was definitely one too far, especially given the circumstances that they’ve already been through. Then was the Slender Man real? Highly unlikely.

So then… maybe a spell was cast on her? Possible, but Twilight couldn’t sense anything off about Dash aside from the clearly impossible event that she was in tears over. It could be something similar to what Pip was going through, but that was over the course of a week or two, and he was a foal. Dash was a full grown mare with more confidence than even the princess’s, possibly combined. There was no way some pony pulled a trick like that on her.

Then what was left? A monster similar to the Slender Man? That could be possible, but nothing in her encyclopedia of Equestria Beasts and Horrors described anything even close to that thing, and she memorized that book when it came time to telling Spike stories when he was hatched. Could be an unnamed monster? That would just make it the Slender Man then?

The unicorn let out a groan of disappointment, subconsciously letting her hoofs rub up and down the pegasus’s back, soothing the distraught mare. Twilight felt sick, in two different ways now. On one hoof, there was a problem right in front of her, and she had no obvious or even tangentially possible solutions to it. On the other hoof, she felt the sickness from earlier rising in her chest again. It was getting worse by the moment.

She let her head crane backwards, attempting to focus on the ceiling in the hopes of correcting her equilibrium. It was a common fact in medical dictations that a hindered or altered sense of balance is a common cause for queasiness. Throwing aside the lack of causes for losing such a sense, she focused on the easiest solution, establishing a point of reference she could maintain balance from.

Then she saw it.

Again, for a completely different reason, Twilight had no idea what to do.

Her mouth went dry as a desert, eyes wide as the full moon, and stomach heavier then every book in her library combined.

The pale face of the Slender Man was staring down at her.

There weren’t ears upon its head, no eyes on its face or lips over its muzzle. There was nothing. There was just white, bare, patches of skin. Yet, she knew it was looking down at her, staring at her with a hunger she couldn’t fathom.

Everything piled into her throat at once.

Twilight's scream ripped through the library.

Author's Note

Credits for the image go to Darkho, found on my page. He's just awesome like that.

Malice

“Send in the next party,” Luna instructed the lunar stallion by her throne’s side, earning a nod of understanding before trotting off. She let out low sigh as her mind wandered from the room she was trapped in.

Her court was meant for only the night, as it was her night to rule, but the ponies no longer came to her with concerns of the kingdom or questions of foreign affairs. Now her time was spent managing the affairs of ponies who could not sort out their own problems without an official decree. Problems within marriages, fitness of parents and their foals, occasionally the odd pony looking to spend the night out of the cold. Important to some, but undeniably mundane when stacked next to the nobles and their concerns over trade and commerce.

Still, it did some good this night. There was little need for her strain her memory for conditions of foreign lands, or recall her previous studies of tax laws and court orders. Tonight, she was doubtlessly being greeted with mundane tasks, but these tasks left her mind open to wander.

It would be many hours before she would be allowed to search again, Twilight and Rainbow doubtlessly by her side. The condition of the unicorn had worried her, but she was not the brash pegasus who would neglect her health. She would be fine by morning.

The idea of drifting into a scape of dreams briefly fluttered through her mind, dancing around the problems she had. It would be relaxing, possibly rewarding, but in the end distracting. She couldn’t abandon any of her subjects for any reason, certainly not for personal interest. No, until all was well in her kingdom again, she could not rest.

Her eyes looked up to the grand door at the far end of the hall, waiting for it to open for the next pony waiting for her court. Luna gambled with herself, betting on one hoof it would be a beggar asking for some bread and warm coat while waging on the other it would be a young couple asking for consent to marry. Either way, they would gently trot in once the lunar guard gave them permission. Then they would exchange pleasantries, exchange honors, then begin talking about the business at hand.

So Luna’s shock was understandable when the doors blew open with two ponies charging in.

Her breath caught in her throat for a moment, leaving a startled expression across her features. One of the ponies flew to her with an incredible speed, the other charging forward across the ground. Who they were was immediately recognizable.

“Rainbow Dash! Twilight Sparkle!” The lunar princess cried out in shock. She stood from her throne and trotted down the steps to meet the two. Luna was forced to stop as the two ponies barreled into her. For second time under a solar minute, she was shocked.

“What is the meaning of this?!” She cried out, caught between apprehension and genuine curiosity. She couldn’t say anything as after he eyes fell on the two. One had the oddest look of horror about her, one that Luna thought possible only from the faces of foals. The other… Rainbow Dash was crying. It was hard for her to breath at the sight.

Luna would die young at the rate her heart beats were skipping.

“W-We… It I-I-I…” Twilight Sparkle stammered uselessly, her jaw shaking horrifically. The princess was forced to swallow a ball in her throat at the sight. Something was more than just wrong to bring this unicorn to tears.

“We saw it. I saw it. Twice. It was there. Real.” Rainbow Dash spoke quickly, letting her words fly as fast as she could. Her breathing was almost as loud as her voice itself.

“What was there, Rainbow? Who?” Luna spoke as commandingly as she could, but even her own voice faltered at the sight of the two full grown mares literally cowering before her. The pony of her attention took several breaths at a quick pace, controlling herself as best she could. It still appeared to be little at all.

“The Slender Man.”

Luna’s confusion had yet to subside.

“You were… frightened by the stories?” The idea seemed absurd in her own thoughts, and the lunacy of it only increased as it rolled off her tongue. But the way by which both ponies froze at the accusation did not go unobserved.

She watched Twilight Sparkle shut her muzzle, sucking on her nothing as she attempted to right her breath. Her ribcage bent at the awkward pressure, but it succeeded in its purpose. The unicorn released a few more breaths before speaking, eyes still as wide as Luna’s moon.

“This… they were true,” Twilight began. She spoke on before the princess could say a word. “The stories, those… myths. I saw him. Dash saw him. We saw him.” Her terrified gaze only grew wet with the words she spoke.

“You… cannot… possibly mean?” Luna questioned, caught and confused.

“The Slender Man.” Dash spoke again. “In the forest. Where we were. He took Scootaloo. I couldn… couldn-n…” Every time the word formed on her lips, her stomach lurched in pain. Shaky breaths hinging on sobs left her trembling lips. It was difficult for Luna to name a more terrifying expression.

“You have both been hexed.” She spoke matter-of-factly. “There is no other reason for-” She was stopped as blue wings flared in front of her.

“NO!”

The shuffling sound of her guards met her perked ears. She gave a passive motion of her forehoof, stopping them. Whatever the pegasus was to say, she would need to hear. Shaking with an emotion, fighting between terror or anger, Rainbow Dash shouted into the face of the dark alicorn princess.

“I saw him! He’s real! That wasn’t a hex, or… or a spell! That… monster was REAL!!” Luna kept donned a mask of neutrality as the pegasus screamed. Like dealing with a foal, she would encourage the behavior.

“Calm yourself, Rainbow Dash.” Her tone darkened with every word. “You do yourself no benefit in the manner by which you address me.” The words may have well have been the wind, because they flew over Dash like the air in her wings.

“You don’t get it!” Dash challenged with an outstretched hoof. “You didn’t see him! You didn’t feel it. You don’t know…” Her voice trailed off, dying as her breath gave out.

Her strength soon followed.

The terrified pegasus crumbled on the tile floor, the water held on the edges of her lids falling down her coat, staining the floor beneath her. Luna watched on, her mask cracking with every tear that fell.

“How cold it was.” The sudden entrance of Twilight’s voice earned a double take from the alicorn.

“Pardon?”

“What Dash was going to say,” the unicorn softly replied. “I… I-I saw it when Dash came to find me. Sh-She saw it, then… it must have followed her to me.” The shiver that traveled along the young mare was unmistakable.

“I just felt so cold.” Without waiting for her ruler to reply, Twilight trotted carefully to the fallen pegasus, lying down by her side. It was all the incentive Dash need to wrap herself close to the mare, tears turning from the floor to the other pony’s coat. Twilight wrapped her hoof around Dash’s neck.

Luna watched, and listened, with nothing short of bafflement.

She turned slowly across the tiled floor, eyes half lidded as she trotted forward. She had no destination, only the urge to suddenly move. Her mind was not far behind, moving at speeds that, if given form, would have been unviewable to the naked eye.

Neither Twilight nor Dash expressed the symptoms of a hexing, nor of any spell she had ever heard of. There existed no enchanted plant, no old artifact, nor any sickness that possibly eluded to what the to ponies had described. It was only logical for her to add Pipsqueak to the group as well, taking in the events of the day prior. But what did it mean?

It took Pip, a young colt, much longer to develop the symptoms he had. Twilight and Dash manifested this in a manner of hours? No, that wasn’t possible, not at least within her vision. She saw no foreign entities working within Twilight when she had healed the unicorn’s illness, nothing aside from what she already worked to purge. And, Luna had purged it.

Then what remained? Could there be a creature such as the two described, The Slender Man?

Her mane shook with her head at the idea. No, that wasn’t possible. He was a legend from back when she was only a foal. A story, a thing to frighten children. Nothing more.

Still, the presence of something… else, was not within her power to deny.

“Twilight Sparkle,” the unicorn raised her head at the name. “Rainbow Dash,” the pegasus followed suit. “I doubt with all of my being and powers that I possess that this monster is real. However, it is more than clear that something, of some nature haunts you. As it stand, I cannot allow either of you to leave this castle and be placed in harm’s way.”

“Come,” Her voice commanded the two as she motioned towards a hallway door. “Time may very well be of the essence.”

The ponies needed no other reasons to follow Luna.

[img] http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s405/ktwizard1/PerspectiveSwitch_zps0b60a443.png[/img]

“Where are we?” Twilight asked, allowing her curiosity to seep above her fear. “I’ve never seen this section of the castle before.”

“I’d be surprised if you had.” Luna answered easily.

Her horn flared as her eyes looked upwards, sparking the flames in another candle high above the trio. Dash and Twilight had stopped gazing at the affair. She had performed it no less than a dozen times during their trek through the untouched passage way.

“This place is… safe?” Dash asked without even a mask over her trembling voice. She moved closer to Twilight, who welcomed the contact.

“Not even a pony who grew up within these walls is aware of the chamber I am leading you towards.” An amused tone danced around her words, but neither the unicorn nor the pegasus found it a fond time to laugh. What they wouldn’t give to have Pinkie Pie close by now.

Their trot continued for a time, silent aside from the small flashes of magic Luna casts along the candle surfaces. The walls remained as undecorated in one section as it did any other. Not on picture frame or elegant statue graced the hall. Dash had a hard time thinking of reasons why that would be bad.

“Here we are.” Luna announced calmly. Rainbow and Twilight both gazed at the object at the end of their path.

A door. A simple, undecorated, uncured, door.

“What is it?” Dash asked without a moment’s hesitation. It took all the same amount of time for Luna to speak.

“Simply, it is a bunker to hide within. The resonance of sound carries through this hall and to this room, alerting any within of coming parties. It is plain, barren now, but it was necessary when this castle was constructed, or so my dearest sister has told me.”

Luna’s horn glowed a dark blue for barely a moment before the doors swung open.

A cold blast of air washed over the ponies’ coats, causing them to shiver. It almost seemed ironic to Twilight.

She was shivering from cold air when just a few moments before she shivered out of cold fear. In any other time, she might have made a comment on it. But, she, more than most ponies, knew the importance of priorities.

Lives were at stake.

“Please, follow us inward, quickly.” The princess spoke as she already began her trot forwards into the room.

Neither pony followed her, for a reason both knew.

The darkness.

The room Luna had ventured so fearlessly into was darker than the most unlit area of the Everfree Forest. Neither Dash nor Twilight could see a single detail in the bitch blackness. The cold air made Twilight shiver just now, but staring into the bottomless depths of the shadows nearly made her cower.

Luna’s form was quickly lost to both Dash and Twilight. Both looked into the room, hoping to catch the retreating form of their princess, hear the echo of her jeweled hooves click across the tile. But they neither heard nor saw either one.

“Uh, where did she go?” Dash questioned. It was something Twilight couldn’t answer, at least not in detail.

“I-I don’t know.” She looked down the hall they had come from.

She felt for her hooves at what she saw, or rather, what she couldn’t see. Light.

The lights from the candle flames were slowly disappearing. Twilight found the air around her poisonous, as her body refused to take a breath of it. It didn’t take long for Dash to notice the unicorn’s distracted stare, following Twilight’s gaze, only for her own curious eyes to begin to shake.

The lights fixtures hanging off the wall were beginning to lose the spark of magic that kept their flames alive. It was supposed to stay lit for the night eternal, cast by Princess Luna, a princess that should be just a few trots ahead of them, but now feeling further away than her own stars in the sky.

Twilight needed no more motivation to light her horn to the brightest she could manage, filling the halls with a sunny lavender hue. Shadows fled from the sight, diving once more into the far corners and cracks of the castle’s walls. Sighs of relief were audible from both mares.

“T-Thanks Twi’.” Dash spoke with a small hitch in her voice. Twilight was little different.

“No problem, no problem.” The unicorn muttered the response under breath. She saw nothing down the hallway now, lit only by her horn, flames extinguished by the absence of the caster’s presence. Twilight bit her lip, hard.

“Hey princess? Princess?!” Twilight stumbled slightly under Dash’s call. When she faced the pegasus, she saw the mare shouting into the room Luna had lost herself in. The unicorn turned her horn towards the room, aiming the illuminating magic towards the thick cover of shadows. The blackness left like a swift wind under her the magical aura.

It was rather barren of any furnishings, empty and hollow save for a few pillows against the far wall, collecting dust and grim. No windows were etched into the walls nor any pictures hanging from the stone. The room seemed entirely compromised of stone, tile, dust, and shadows. But there were two details about the room both of the ponies picked up almost immediately.

One, there were no other doors in the room.

Two, Princess Luna was nowhere in sight.

They stood there, frozen, staring at a dark empty room at the end of a long hallway, lit solely by the unicorn’s magical will. No sound met their perked ears, nothing but shaking breaths and clattering hooves on tiled floor.

“W-Wha…” Dash’s attempt to speak was a complete failure, but even she did better than Twilight. The lavender mare was unable to speak at all. Her mind was buzzing with a million and one thoughts, not a single one something she enjoyed imagining.

Trapped. That’s all she felt.

“P-Princess Luna? Your majesty?” Twilight’s voice shook as she spoke into the room, fearful of raising her voice. No response came to her ears the same as no movement came to her eyes. Something draped itself over her back, and it was only the warm sensation of the object against her shivering body that kept her from screaming.

Her eyes turned to see Dash holding her close, pink eyes glowing under her own horn’s light. But those pink confident eyes looked about as joyful as a foal being told he was useless. From the still in the air, Twilight could hear the pegasus gulp.

“Do… do you think…” Her voice shook with her breath, shivering like her body. The wing across the unicorn flexed hard, pulling their coats tighter together. Twilight didn’t protest. “H-He’s in there…”

Twilight wrapped her foreleg around Dash’s neck at the thought.

“N-No. Imp-possible.” She tried to smile with the words, an exercise her studies had shown historically capable of boosting moral. It didn’t work. “I-It’s probably a teledim-m-mensional gateway. A-A-A quick escape from anything… from it.”

“Ah, yeah! Totally!” Thank Celestia’s sun for the pegasus’s confidence. It felt like the warmest object available to her for miles. “The Princess is just waiting for us in… whatever you called it.” And now Twilight was giggling again. Laughing. That was supposed to be Pinkie’s job.

“Right, of course, so let’s go.” Twilight spoke with as much confidence as her voice could gather, but she stepped forward with a leg that shook worse than a blanket in the wind. From the silence beside her, Dash wasn’t doing much better.

“Left-right, right-left, left-right, right left.” Dash was muttering to herself, attempting to teach herself to walk again. The unicorn felt the pink eyes of her friend look over at her, and she turned to meet her gaze.

Without a question, Dash let her wing drape over the unicorn, pulling her close.

Twilight did nothing to neither argue nor chase away the gesture.

The walked forward into the room together, leaning upon one another for strength. Moving through the creeping darkness, kept away only by the shallow light of Twilight, the small amount of comfort the contact against one another gave felt like the strength of the sun. With shivering breaths, they both walked forwards, deeper and deeper into the room.

The doors passed their sides as the four grey stone walls began to encompass them. Twilight felt the strands of a cobweb grab at her hoof, but she paid it no mind, focusing only on two things. The spell from her horn and the wing on her back. Dash was giving her strength, and she was giving some back. Together, this strength was all that mattered.

SLAM!Click.

All that strength left in an instant.

Nothing, no force of magic or otherwise, could have silenced the terrified screams from Twilight and Rainbow.

Both pegasus and unicorn knew the moment the sound vibrated through the darkened room what had happened. It was a cold truth, a horrid truth, but it was a truth that was no less obvious than the existence of life itself.

The door behind them had been shut.

Twilight’s horn flickered and died.

“Whoa! No way!” Twilight heard more than saw Dash fly backwards into the door, ramming the wooden object with all her strength. It didn’t budge in the slightest.

“Open up open up open up open up open up open up open up OPEN UP OPEN UP!!”

“Dash!” Twilight called with a shrill voice of her own, reaching for the pegasus that beat on the door so furiously. The mare fought like a rabid cat in her hooves. “Dash calm down! Please! Please!”

Some word she had spoken must have reached the pegasus. Her wing moved with less force, but had yet to still. She turned quickly in Twilight’s grasp, a motion that the unicorn thought was an attempt to escape. Such thinking was dashed the moment she felt the strong shivering hooves wrap around her neck, pulling her close like a comforting blanket to a young lost foal.

“What’s going on? What’s going on?” Dash’s voice had yet to lower, clambering with a terrified tone. “Where did the light go? Where did the princess go? What happened? Twi’? Twilight?”

“I’m here.” Twilight spoke with as much strength as her voice could muster. Fluttershy would have easily outdone her. “I-I’m right here.”

“I’m sorry.”

That wasn’t Dash. That wasn’t Twilight.

The voice came from beyond the door.

“Princess!” Twilight cried. She, as gingerly as she could, released Dash and moved to the door, putting her hooves against the wood. “Princess! We’re trapped! I-I don’t know what happened.”

“I locked in you both.”

Whatever hope Twilight had slipped away.

“W-what!?” Dash screamed with fury. “Why?!”

“Because, he bade me to.” Twilight knew who he was. Rainbow knew exactly who he was.

“W-When!? How?! Why, Why, WHY?” Twilight shouted in place of the pegasus, who’s fearful gaze roamed the confines of the room, searching for a shape she prayed to the unraised sun she would not find.

“I have known about it for quite some time.” Dash and Twilight stopped their hammering as the voice of the princess worked through the doubtlessly enchanted wood. “It works under the guise of night, my night. Like the wolves of timber or beasts of stars, it lurks only in my realm.”

“Then… that means you can destroy it?” Dash felt Twilight give her an odd look even in the thick shadows. It was a stupid question and she knew. There wasn’t a single thing that even hinted towards that possibility. She could feel the princess shake her head beyond the object that separated then.

“No, Rainbow Dash, I cannot.” It was the answer they both expected, but that did not stop their hopes from dropping from the low podiums they set them on. “He is a thing beyond my magic, beyond what either my sister or I are now or ever will be capable of.” Silence fell. Surrounded in a blanket of shadows, bristling the fur of both ponies, Twilight memorized every word the Princess of the Night had said. She analyzed every word, clause, and sentence she spoke. And there was something that was undeniably setting her off.

“P-Princess?” Her voice shook with tears. “You… Y-You can sense… others…” Twilight’s breath shook as she drew in a heavy breath from the cold dead air. “W-Where is… it…” It couldn’t be called anything else but a thing.

“Near.” There were no such words that could carry any greater terror.

“Wait! No, no no no no!” Dash rammed against the door again, doing as much good as it had before. Twilight was rigid as the stone that surrounded them.

“I am sorry, truly sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry, she sounded distracted. Twilight noted the tone, shutting her eyes to keep away the reminder of where she was. It didn’t work. Nothing was working. “Please believe me Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, I wished for nothing of this to occur, but...” Her voice trailed off and Dash readied herself to scream again. “But I cannot allow him to succeed. Ponies cannot know the terror that is that... thing."

“What are you talking about?!” Dash let out the force of air. “You’re gonna sacrifice us to some… monster just because it’s easy?!”

“Nothing of this action is simple nor easy!” The voice of Luna roared past the door, silencing the furious Dash and earning the attention of the motionless Twilight. “I have worked for hundreds of years before my banishment and every day afterwards trying to ward off the horror that is this thing. But there exists no fruit of Equestria nor gift of the alicorns that can appease it. In the end, I can only bargain with it. I, and I alone.”

“No…” Twilight muttered the word so weakly. She felt cold hooves slowly encircle her, pulling away her hope like a ripe fruit from a dying tree.

“Only I can make sense of the method by which he speaks.” The princess continued to speak in tone Twilight though held as much life as the door that separated them. “A monster with no lips to move or eyes to direct. A thing that uses only the workings of the mind. What others perceive a promises and hope, I see for twisted reality it truly wishes to orchestrate.”

“I… I don’t understand.” Twilight’s trembled on the edge of a knife. It was a miracle she could speak at all.

“Monsters do not speak with words of any tongue, they call to one another with colors and patterns. Slender… He knows the workings of the mind of every living creature. He allows the most horrendous of images to be draped in the brightest of colors. Only I can reflect the light and see the truth of his desires. The swirling red, the endless black, and the linings of grey.”

“Wait, you…” Dash trailed off, eyes scanning the darkened floor of the room, barely visible beneath her hooves. Something in the princess’s speech seemed too familiar. She’d heard those words before, or something close to it at least. But where?

‘He talks like the princess! I can see things in my head whenever he looks at me.’ Speaking through the mind… the mind didn’t just show words, it showed images, it showed memories.

SLAM! “You tricked Scootaloo!” Dash shouted as she pounded on the door with all the strength her hooves had.

SLAM! “You forced her into the woods!”

SLAM! “You made her find that monster!”

SLAM! “You! It’s all your fault!”

Hot breath came from the pegasus in heavy pants, forehooves still pushing against the wooden door. For all of her force, of body and words, not a dent had appeared across the surface. Twilight watched with growing dread, already starting at levels beyond enjoyable.

“I did nothing to the young Scootaloo.”

“Liar!” Dash screeched like griffon. “She knew you could talk to him, she told me that right before that thing took her away!”

“And it is one more life I must carry the memory of now. But Rainbow Dash,” Dash bit her tongue to keep from yelling. “At no point did I try and force Scootaloo to do anything. She had already found the monster before I first met her. I only spoke to her when it told me of the young orange trail it wished to cover in black.” Twilight listened with rapt attention. “It had already found her because she was a lonely soul, no different than I.”

Dash growled at the door, the fire of hatred burning in her eyes, even through the darkness of the room. Her hooves scratched against the door as she dragged them down, head pushing against the frame when all four legs reached the floor. Twilight was a different story. Her body was still, aside from the shaking, no urge or desire to move within her. Only one part of her was mobile now.

The unicorn’s mind was racing.

The Princess was working against them. She was, by all intentions, sacrificing them for this monster, like some barbaric ritual of medieval scripture. Her lavender irises darted to and fro in the darkness, looking for nothing as her mind searched desperately for a way to justify all of this. The Slender Man was real. Luna was its… what?

Servant? No, Luna hated the thing. Slave? She was bound by now laws or chains to work for the monster. Follower? She only acknowledged the creature’s existence, the Princess of the Night saw nothing holy in it. There had to be something… but what?

It hit Twilight like an anvil.

“Princess!” Twilight cried the title with a shriek, her eyes wider than her jaw could open. “Don’t you see! It’s manipulated you! You’re a proxy!” Her forelegs were against the door, pushing the immovable object with the strength of desperation.

“I am nothing of the sort, Twilight Sparkle.” The voice may have been muffled past the magic, stone, and wood, but it was as clear as the tearful eyes of Dash.

“You are!” Twilight screamed in return. “You’re being tricked! Manipulated! Influenced! Please, please realize that! You don’t have to work for it, you don’t!” Her breathing was loud and deep, throat growing soar from the shouting she knew she so desperately had to do. She tried to lower her respiration, to quiet the volume of the air she took in and let out. Neither she nor Dash could risk missing Luna’s return.

Only silenced returned through the sealed doors.

No sound of clopping hooves or of even quiet mumbling permeated the objects separating the dark princess from the trapped ponies. In that brief period of time, Twilight’s last light hope began to fade away, believing the princess would not speak again, merely wait for their demise. Dash’s feathers bristled as her coat stood on end, every muscle in her body and neuron in her head telling her to scream, charge, and fly fast enough to break past the door keeping them trapped.

Then Luna spoke.

“We… no… I am sorry, my little ponies. But as the bell tolls and raven crows, your time is at an end.” The dread in both The Element of everlasting Loyalty and all-powerful Magic grew ever larger. “You will be remembered.”

The sound of clicking hooves echoed past the wooden door. Stillness in the air soon followed.

“No!”

Dash cried as she slammed door with all the force she could muster. It didn’t budge. “No!” She cried again as she slammed into it once more. Not even a dent.

“Stand back Dash!” The pegasus looked towards Twilight for only a second before moving away quickly with a beat of her wings. The room was lit with a violet hue as her magic impacted the wood. It sounded like lightening traveled through the room, ready to scorch any object it touched. If she were of calmer mind, Rainbow may have jumped. She was too scared to show any more fear. The magic washed against the objects like ocean’s water upon a rock.

Terror overtook the two when they saw the pair of doors standing perfect straight, locked, and still on their hinges. Not even ashes were left where Twilight’s spell had impacted. The doors were in perfect condition.

“This isn’t possible!” Dash screamed as she rammed the wood again. “Why can’t we get out!? What’s happening!?” Her voice grew higher and higher with every word that she spoke. In a sounder mind, Dash may have felt herself crying. In a better light, Twilight may have seen the tears.

“The princess… probably enchanted the doors.” She let the sentence hang in the dark air. “She planned for this… she really was ready for this.” Dash heard the unicorn’s rump hit the floor. “We can’t get out.”

“No way!” Dash screeched as she heard the words, pushing her hooves to her ears like spiders had just tried to crawl into her brain. “That’s not true. That’s a lie! We-We can get out of anything! I’m Rainbow Dash, the Fastest Pegasus in Equstria a-and you’re Twilight Sparkle, the freaking student of Celestia for pony’s sake!”

“Wait…” Dash spoke is tone far calmer than the manic tone she had just moments before. “That’s it!” She flew in front of Twilight, their heads lightly knocking as she misjudged the distance. The darkness really was bad.

“What is it, Rainbow?” She already sounded so defeated. No way. Dash wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Teleport!” She screamed as she grabbed the mare with her hooves. “Teleport us out of here! I know you can do! You do it like a hundred times a day!” She shook the lavender mare almost violently.

“C’mon! Try! Try!!” The tears had yet to stop.

“I can’t Rainbow.” She spoke so simply, eyes looking upwards. Dead eyes. She was giving up already. “The princess placed a spatial barrier over this room. We couldn’t leave if we tried, and… we have tried.”

“N-No.” Dash whimpered. “T-Twi stop it. You… Y-You’re wrong, alright?” She tried to smile. She really did. But she couldn’t.

“I’m sorry Rainbow.” Her defeated voice sound pitiful now, like a foal hearing her mother had passed away. “I-I’m s-so sor-r-ry.”

Dash didn’t speak anymore. She couldn’t. Her jaw was trembling to hard, her teeth clattering against each other as the horrendous truth began to consume her. The once light tears fell like rain. The once strong hooves turned weak. Her once rigid wings drooped.

And her once confident words vanished beneath the mournful sobs.

She grabbed Twilight with all the strength she had, holding the mare as close as she could. She buried her head into the unicorn’s shoulder, weeping like a broken soul into the coat of the greatest friend she had ever had. Her hooves clinging with the little strength she had left.

Rainbow Dash screamed and cried into the coat of Twilight Sparkle. There was no longer any reason to hold back.

She felt the lavender mare return her embrace, burying her head beneath the nook of her neck and wings. She felt the cold tears seep into her coat. She felt the warm breath of the unicorn’s cries. She heard nothing but their muffled voices screaming in protest to the horror that was coming.

“I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die!” Every rasping cry tore through Dash’s throat with the same force she felt her heart rending. Twilight cried into her wordlessly.

They cried on one another for what felt like hours, their last hours, their last moments. They were together. For every moment that passed around the two, their legs held one another harder. For every second longer they continued to cry, their tails curled tighter, and for every near cry Twilight gave, Dash hugged her wings around them harder.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. She was supposed to be a Wonderbolt, a star, the shining symbol of loyalty to all of Equestria. Twilight would be the unicorn every foal dreamed to be, dedicated and strong in mind and soul. They weren’t supposed to be cowering in the shadows, waiting for a monster they could barely fathom to catch them, captured by a princess they trusted with their lives, knowing that they would not be the first, knowing they would not be the last.

“I-I-I’m-m-m…” Dash tried to speak through her sobs, the pacing of her breaths making it impossible.

“Sh-h-sh.” Even the shushing from Twilight was given over her shaking breath. Dash felt the unicorn’s hooves rub her back, circling the muscles beneath her wings, comforting the distraught mare as if she mattered more than herself. “I-It… I-It’s okay.” She whispered. “W-We’ll b-be okay. W-We’re b-better than Luna, th-than Scootaloo.” Rainbow didn’t say a word. “Th-They gave up. W-We won’t. We’re not alone.”

It was one of the worst lies Dash had ever heard.

She believed it with all of her heart.

They continued to hold one another, refusing to let go even as their sobs slowly drained away, throats too soar and lungs too drained to mourn for their lives any longer.

Dash let her chin rise to rest on the unicorn’s shoulder. She let took only the smallest comfort in the mare so close to her, refusing as much as herself to let go. She let her wet and tired eyes look into the darkness of the room with the blind and useless hope of seeing a way out.

Instead, she saw what she dreaded most.

Limbs thinner than a sapling’s branch were visible, just visible, through the darkness of the light’s absence. She drew in a shaky breath as she followed the appendages upwards. The black cloth flowed upwards, meeting at a point near the ceiling. From there, it grew across the stone above their head, a torso is what she wanted to call it.

But then she saw black lines moving in the shadows. Dark vines and obscure streaks. Tentacles, she knew what they were. But still she traveled higher. Her head lifted itself from Twilight’s shoulder as she followed the malformed darkness. Her eyes landed on the prize she wished she never had.

A head with out a face, hanging over them like the moon against a starless night.

She wished beyond hope to see a twisted smile, to see a crooked grin, to even see Princess Luna’s dark muzzle grow from the solid white of the monster’s formless head. But no prayer or wish was answered.

Her grip on Twilight grew stronger.

She returned her head to the mare’s shoulder, hiding her eyes into the coat of the unicorn. Dash took in shaking breaths, her body shivering even within the warm embrace of Twilight Sparkle. The mare returned it with equal strength.

“I love you, Twilight.” Dash whispered the name for what she knew would be the last time.

“I love you too, Rainbow.”

Author's Note

I'm a horrible and dark person and I'm going to hell when I die. After this, that is a fact. But you know what? There's no kill like overkill.

One more chapter, and now, one song to add.

More

“This is an outrage!” The powerful voice shook the halls of the court. The ponies surrounding the voice cowered in fear. It was an emotion they found alien in the presence of their ruler. So too was the sight of her features twisted in rage, eyes narrowed in anger.

“Why can you not find them!?” The subject she addressed was the only pony in the crowd that displayed little fear in the face of his ruler’s outburst. His features were passive, empty, like a forgotten boulder in the forest’s depths.

“My team has searched the Everfree Forest for days and nights without end, your majesty.” His words were kind and loyal. His voice was dead and barren. “Nothing has been found as of yet regarding the missing ponies or dragon.”

The alabaster alicorn, standing on her four hooves with murder in her eyes, glared at the Captain of her Guard. Her breath was near visible with steam, mane billowing against a wind that showed the strength of a storm. Her eyes darted away.

“Leave.” She commanded. “All of you. Go.” The ponies looked to one another with skepticism, but slowly shuffled out of the packed hall. She watched them with eyes that hid none of her anger, concealed none of her fury. The many ponies left the hall, leaving behind only angered Celestia, silent Armor… and a tearful Luna. The Princess of the Day stared down at the captain of her guard. The anger was clear in her eyes, but beneath it, her sister could see the brewing of hate and disdain.

“Do you not care for your sister, Shining Armor?” The stallion looked to his ruler with a look that nearly sent the princess on the defensive. “How have you not found anything of her? No note, no message, not even a clue as to her disappearance?”

The blue stallion bit his lip, holding back a comment he knew he would regret. His eyes screwed themselves shut as his head lowered to the floor. Celestia watched with a gaze that grew cold, the fires in her eyes turning to ice, scowl turning into a line of contempt. Even that slowly receded when Shining Armor looked back to her.

His face had turned the very image of torture.

Tears flowed from his eyes in a way she knew only fillies capable of doing, his teeth gripped together hard enough to crack every tooth in his mouth. She could hear his breath increase with ever second that passed.

“Nothing.” He spoke it through his teeth. The words only met the alicorns’ ears with the silence of the hall that surrounded them. “Nothing. There was n-nothing.” His jaw slowly relaxed as little control returned to his anguished body.

“Not of Twily, not of Spike, not of Rainbow Dash, not of-of anypony at all.” The tears flowing from his eyes did not extinguish the flames growing in his gaze. “Twily’s library was burned, Dash’s home smashed to pieces, Pip’s home gone, mother catatonic, Scootaloo gone as well. Th-There is nothing. Nothing!”

He shouted into the face of his princess.

She didn’t object in the slightest. Her gaze was harder than the stone surrounding Discord, stronger than the sides of the mountain Canterlot hung from. If she had any emotion aside from her anger, she showed not a trace of it to the Captain of her guard.

“Leave.” Her tone was colder than ice. “Go to Cadance. Comfort one another, now.” Shining stood for only a moment before turning from his ruler, foregoing the salute of farewell. Both Guardians of Night and Day watched him go.

“Sister,” Luna began once Shining was out of sight. “Can-”

“Stop.” The dark alicorn froze at Celestia’s command. “Not now Luna, please not now.” Her tone had changed once more.

From fire to ice, and now mournful tears.

“Have pity on an old mare, Luna. Let me mourn for my student. Let me be alone.” Without another word, the mighty Princess Celestia, ruler of Equstria, walked from her throne.

Luna watched her sister trot away, limping with a broken soul, leaving the Princess of the Night alone in the hall. The passing of the sun welcomed the coming of the moon, the entrance for shadows. Her cerulean eyes turned themselves to a far corner of the room, darkened by blinds pulled aside for the tall glass windows. It was of the purest black, darker than even the coat of a nightmare.

But she could see it.

It was clear to her the slender form hiding in the blanketing abyss. It’s tendrils near prying at the passing light, pushing away the warmth of the day. She watched it stare forwards without a gaze, looking towards the retreating form of her sister. She felt through the paths of her mind, the colors of its ideas.

A dark blackness that stretched over a void, white paths holding strong and tall above the encasing darkness, but swirls of red reaching up and capturing the pure alabaster paths. The spirals grew until the roads of white ran red.

Tears spilled from Luna’s lonely eyes.

The creature’s gazeless face looked upon her.

She whispered a mantra into her spectral mane.

“At any cost.”