Sunset was stirred from her sleep by the sound of her phone buzzing. Her eyes blinked open; the room was completely dark, save for the light of her phone screen. What time was it? With a groan, she lazily reached out a hand to her nightstand and fumbled for her buzzing phone. She got a hold of it and brought it to her face, squinting against the light. It was Rainbow Dash.
Barely thinking, Sunset tapped the answer button and brought the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Sunset? You there?"
"Yeah, I'm here."
"Thank God; I was starting to think I couldn't reach anyone."
"What do you mean? Rainbow, what time is it?" Sunset checked the time on her phone. "It's past twelve."
"Is it? Sorry, Sunset, I was just, uhh..."
"Just what?"
"Look, I'm gonna be straight with you, Sunset, I don't know where I am."
"What do you mean you 'don't know where you are'?"
"I mean 'I don't know where I am'!" There is a pause and a sigh. "Okay, here's the deal. Sometimes at night, when I'm feeling restless, I go out for a run. And lately, I've been using my superspeed for it."
"You've been using superspeed at night? In the dark?"
"Yeah, yeah, just listen. Now, tonight's been... stressful. Like, really stressful. Running helps me relax, so I went out and just started running. And all the sudden, it stops working."
"What stops working?"
"My geode! My magic! It stopped working and I can't get it to work again... Sunset, do you know what's going on?"
"I-I don't. The geodes have never just stopped working, at least as far as I know."
"Great."
"And you don't know where you are?"
"No."
"Well, can you describe it?"
"That's the weird thing. See, I'm at some kind of town. A ghetto-looking place. I've never been here before and I can't remember how I got here or which direction I came from."
"Why don't you call one of the others? I'm, like, the only one who doesn't have a vehicle."
"As if that would do any good? I told you, I don't know where this place is. Besides, I tried calling the others; none of them picked up. I thought I didn't have signal."
"Okay, well, have you tried asking someone where you are?"
"That's the thing, there isn't anyone out here. I've been walking down the street for like half an hour and I haven't seen anyone."
"That's strange."
"You have no idea."
"Rainbow, are you okay."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."
"You sound nervous."
"I'm not nervous, I'm just... weirded out. Like, none of this makes any sense, right?" A sigh. "Sunset, I'm gonna be real with you, something really weird is going on."
"Yeah, it sounds like it. What are you gonna do?"
"I don't know, just keep walking, I guess. Look, Sunny, I know you're probably really tired, but can you stay on line with me? Just in case?"
"Of course; I'm here for you, Rainbow."
"Thanks."
"Can you tell me anything about this place you're at?"
"Well, like I said, it's just a town. There's buildings and fences and stuff. I don't see anything landmark-looking."
"Is there anything distinctive around?"
"Umm... I thought I saw some train tracks."
"Train tracks?"
"Yeah, I think so. I saw them a little..." She stopped talking.
"Rainbow?"
Sounds of wind blowing and rabid footsteps. Rainbow was running.
"Rainbow Dash?!"
After a while, the noises stopped and replaced by heavy breathing.
"Rainbow Dash? You there?"
"Something's wrong, Sunset. Something really bad is going on. I can feel it."
"It's okay, Rainbow, just breathe."
"I'm serious, Sunset, everything about tonight has just been... off. Really weird stuff is going on and I can't explain it!"
"Calm down, Rainbow. Tell me everything you can."
"You're gonna think I'm crazy."
"No, I won't. I promise. Take a deep breath and tell me. Maybe together, we can figure what's going on and where you are."
"...Okay. Okay, let me..." A pause. "Sunset, this is gonna sound crazy, but... Have you ever felt like Death was following you?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Like, have you ever felt like you were in danger; like, in serious danger even though there's nothing around that would make you feel that way? And you feel like someone or something is watching you? And you keep seeing things out of the corner of your eye, but when you turn your head to look at it, nothing's there?"
"Yeah, I've had that feeling."
"I am feeling that so hard right now... Okay, okay, let's-let's just try and figure this out. This whole thing started before I even went out, I think. I told you that tonight's been stressful, right? A lot of family issues. Really messed up family issues. So, I go outside to run and get all this off my chest. And I was going so fast and so far. I usually don't go that far, but for whatever reason, I kept going. And I suddenly get this feeling that something was behind me. It doesn't make any sense; I was dashing like a bolt of freaking lightning. I was gonna stop, but that feeling made me keep going. I dunno, it's like I thought that if I stopped, whatever I was imagining was behind me would be on my butt the next second. So, I kept running until suddenly the geode stopped working. I still don't understand why that happened; I keep checking it, but it just isn't working.
"Anyway, I ended up stopping at the edge of these woods, next to this town. I don't wanna stay in the woods; not that I was scared or anything, it just didn't seem like a good idea. So, I started walking through town and that feeling starts building up. It doesn't help that there's no one out here. No one on the streets; no lights in any of the buildings; it's like a ghost town except..."
"Except what?"
"Okay, so, I did see someone."
"Yeah?"
"I was rounding a corner and a few blocks away, I see this dude standing at the corner of the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Now, I couldn't make out a lot of details on this guy; I think he was wearing a trench coat or something; but there's two things about this guy that really freaked me out. First of all, this dude is way too tall. Like, you know how people look smaller from a distance? Well, this guy has to be a freaking giant because he was, like, three blocks away, but he's so big, it's as if he was just across the street from me."
"Woah..."
"I know, right? But the other thing that freaked me out is that he had these dogs with him. There were, like, three or four dogs by this guy's legs. I don't know what breed they were, cuz it was dark and they were pretty far away, but I couldn't help but feel like they were freaking wolves. But the worst part is they were huge. Like, from how freakishly tall the man was and how high they came up to his legs, I feel like they would come up to my chest while still on all fours. Then those things looked right at me! They looked dead at me and, I swear to God, their eyes freaking glowed! Like, you know how, if you record an animal in night vision, it's eyes will glow? That's what it freaking looked like!
"As soon as those things looked at me, I ducked away and started running. N-Not that I..." A sigh. "Okay, I was scared. I'm still scared. That's when I tried calling you guys, but you were the only one who picked up. Maybe the only one I could reach? Anyway, the whole time, I keep hearing barking. Sometimes, it sounds far away. Other times, it sounds closer. Right behind me even."
"Is that why you were running?"
"...No." There's a long pause and then a shuffling noise. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"...I need to get away from here, Sunset. It's not safe here. I need to get home."
"Do you remember where the train tracks are?"
"What? Um, no. Maybe I can find it again? I dunno, this town is like a maze."
"I've been looking up nearby railways. I can't be certain, but I'm thinking it could be Quartz Railway, which, going east would take you just outside Canterlot."
"Well, I guess, anything is better than staying here. I'll try to find it."
A prolonged silence.
"Rainbow, what made you run?"
"...I was walking past a wall. Something looked off in the corner of my eye, so I looked at the wall. My shadow... it wasn't me. It... It had horns."
"Rainbow..."
"Sunset, nothing about this place makes sense. I've been running all over the place, but nothing looks familiar. Or maybe it all looks the same? I don't know!"
"Calm down, Rainbow, we'll-we'll figure this out. The worst thing to do right now is panic."
"That's easy for you to say. You're not here."
"I know, Rainbow. Just trust me, okay?"
"Okay... Okay... Okay... Okay..." There's an indistinct sound.
"What was that?"
"I don't know. I don't know anymore. I just wanna leave. I wanna go home and forget this god-forsaken place. Oh geez, the dogs keep barking. Sunset... am I gonna die here?"
"Don't talk like that, Rainbow! You'll be fine, we just have to figure this out. We always figure things out in the end."
"Why is this happening? Why did my geode stop working? What's wrong with this town? Who was that man?"
"I don't know! I swear, Rainbow, I don't know! I would tell you if I did!"
"Yeah, I guess you would. I'm just... scared."
"No, No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, I'm just- I'm scared too."
"Sunset... my battery is dying."
"Oh, God, no."
"I'm gonna look for the railway. I'll see if I can follow it out of here. If... If I don't come back, tell my parents I love them. And tell the girls I'm sorry."
"Rainbow."
"And Sunset, thank y-" Silence.
"Rainbow?! Rainbow?!" The call had ended.