The abduction
Once upon a time…
Grimm sat upon his oaken throne, his muzzle drawn in a scowl as his blazing green eyes surveyed the forest clearing. Its edges were bordered by towering trees, their twisting branches climbing up into the cloudy skies to form a canopy that darkened the forest below. The clearing itself had only one tree present in the center; an enormous oak that dwarfed all the ones that surrounded it. That oak was the very heart of the forest. The oldest, the strongest, the one that held the most magic. Grimm’s gaze shifted upwards to look upon its boughs, each one as thick as a normal tree’s trunk. Its leaves were thick and plentiful, each one a dark, vivid green. It looked as if the branches formed a forest themselves.
Grimm’s eyes widened as he felt something shift in his realm. Something had touched it, something from the land in which he and his forest once dwelt. Magic began to stir in his bones as realized what had happened. Immediately he reached down and pulled something from beneath his throne, setting it before him.
It was an enormous book, bound in an ancient hide. Pressed into the cover was a series of symbols wrought from iron, in a text that only those as old as Grimm could read. With a grunt he opened its covers and began to leaf through its yellowed, parchment pages. He seemed to search for an eternity before he found his place. His mouth moved to form a hideous grin as he ran his eyes over the text. It grew even wider as he moved to see a picture on the neighboring page. There, in an image that seemed to be from an old woodcut, was a unicorn crouched over a book. Grimm let out a guttural laugh. It did not sound at all pleasant.
Trixie let a sigh of boredom escape her lips as she sifted through the dog-eared pages of the old book. Resting her chin in one hoof, she gazed with half-closed eyes at the text. From what she gathered it was a collection of fairy tales meant for foals. Not that she cared. She wasn’t even really reading it. It was raining out, and her ‘new’ cart leaked terribly. Finding the dampness unacceptable, Trixie had relocated herself to another establishment. A library. She had very little spending money these days, so paying a visit a café or restaurant was out of the question. Thus, Trixie found herself in a dusty little library browsing through literature she didn’t care for.
The unicorn mare flipped through page after page of the dusty book, briefly skimming a word or two. Occasionally she would come across a picture. She would stare at its angular, primitive styling before moving onward. She moved in this manner for about an hour, until she came to the back of the book. It was then that she saw something that drew her out of her static state of mind.
There was one last picture. Trixie’s magenta eyes widened as she looked upon it. There seemed to be nothing special about it, at least compared to the other illustrations. It depicted a large, shaggy goat sitting in an elaborately carved chair. Trixie raised an eyebrow as she gazed into the creature’s face. It glared back, its aged features drawn in a cantankerous sneer. The magician felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, though she had no idea why. She felt no fear, though the picture did seem a bit…off, somehow. Almost as if it was looking directly at her. The mare grasped the book in her magic and closed it, the sound of the covers slapping together ringing out across the quiet little library.
Almost instantly the book snapped open again, and fell flat on the table as a beam of sinister green light blasted out of its pages. Trixie stumbled back, eyes and mouth gaping with terror as a loud groan filled the library, sounding as if some leviathan monster was awakening. Books tumbled down off of huge shelves as the building began to quake. This chaos was worsened as every one of the library’s windows shattered, letting in a wild gale from the storm outside. Trixie crouched down in fear as the rogue wind tore pages from the falling books, bringing them into a vortex around the raging beam of green light.
The magician ducked her head beneath her forelegs, letting out a whimper that couldn’t be heard through the howling storm. Trixie’s mind raced with terror. She had no idea what was happening. All she did know that it was centered around that old book, the book that now appeared to be bringing down the library around her. She tightened her forelegs around her ears as the floorboards groaned, as the walls roared in futile resistance to the storm, as the shelves creaked back and forth. And yet through all this noise, she heard something else. A laugh. A long, rasping, hideous laugh. It stretched on for so long that Trixie would have given anything to make it stop.
Far away in another library, Twilight Sparkle heard the same laugh as she stumbled out the door, Spike trailing behind her. The mare’s eyes swiveled about wildly as she looked at the pandemonium that had overtaken the town. The sound of hooves dashing madly across the cobblestone streets was intermingled with the harsh rattling of the trembling buildings. A chorus of panicked screams came from every corner as dark clouds rolled in overhead, obscuring the light of Celestia’s sun. Streaks of green lightning lashed out from the storm like whips, striking whatever they could reach.
There was a deafening crack as the clock tower gave way to the raging tempest. The bells inside gave a series of feeble, distorted chimes as it toppled over into the street, heading directly for the mare and her companion. In the last few seconds the dragon grabbed the unicorn by the tail and dragged her to safety, just as the tower came crashing down into the streets, the clock faces bursting open, allowing a myriad of gears to spill out across the cobblestone. Twilight turned, still in shock, to her rescuer.
“T-…Thank you, Spike,” she gulped. Her voice was so quiet and meek that the dragon was barely able to make out her words. He nodded, still staring at the splintered remains of the clock tower. Both beings were suddenly thrown to the ground as the earth beneath them shuddered violently. Twilight rolled over, scrambling to get to her hooves, when the air around her began to flicker. Tall, twisting shapes shimmered into a partial existence, their transparent forms rapidly fading in and out, as if they were trying to become real. It took the mare a minute to realize they were trees, far larger than any she had ever seen before. From what Twilight could tell, it looked as if an entire forest was trying to appear where Ponyville stood.
The mare looked to her side to see Spike crawling over to her. She could see the fear in his eyes as he tried to help her to her hooves. Grasping his claw, Twilight arose, but could hardly stand against the tempest winds that now bombarded the town. The icy air stung her eyes as she looked through the ghostly forest, trying to decide on her next move.
The trees suddenly vanished, as if being pulled back from whence they came. The tremors came to an abrupt halt, and the winds slowed until they were no more. The clouds began to fade, and the sky soon returned to a vivid blue. The only proof the tempest left of its existence was the damage it had caused.
And the fact that all over Equestria, a good many ponies were missing.
Trixie let out a deep breath as she felt the library floor cease its trembling. In fact, the floor ceased to be floor at all. Rather than scuffed wooden planks, the magician felt cold, wet soil against her body. The unicorn suddenly noticed a change in temperature as well. Where as she had been warm and cozy in the library only seconds earlier, Trixie now felt a chill wash over her skin. Confused and a little afraid, the mare opened her eyes.
She found herself gazing out across a forest floor littered with wet leaves and twigs, surrounded by towering trees. Trixie uncovered her ears. Silence. Aside from the occasional rustle of the wind through the branches overhead, all was quiet. The unicorn slowly rose to her hooves, a strange feeling churning in the pit of her stomach as she looked up at the trees, their branches so thick that they blocked out what little light made it through the dark clouds overhead.
The mare turned her attention to her surroundings. She shuffled about in a circle, finding that wherever she gazed, the forest stretched on for as far the eye could see. Trixie saw no road, no path of any kind. Her face grew pale. Nothing. There was nothing out here. This place was wild, untouched by equine-kind. Trixie grimaced as an overwhelming sense of dread crept into her mind. She didn’t know where she was, but she knew one thing.
She wasn’t in Equestria anymore.
“…Hello?”
Fluttershy called out once more, but none answered her call. No ponies, no animals. The Pegasus whimpered softly as the cold breeze ran through her feathers. She was alone. Alone in a vast, terrifying forest. The mare shivered as she quietly tread between the countless trees, her head in perpetual motion as she looked from side to side. Her hair stood on end as she heard the low groaning of the branches above, their boughs swaying back and forth hypnotically in the wind.
“…I-is anypony there?”
A twig snapped somewhere to her right.
Fluttershy whirled around, her heart suddenly racing. Her muscles became tense, her wings unfurling in alarm. The mare’s dilated pupils twitched this way and that as they scanned the forest’s nooks and crannies. She grimaced, shrinking down low to the ground. Something was there. She could feel its eyes watching her every move. It saw every step she took, every nervous twitch of her ears, counting the number of times her chest rose and fell as she breathed.
“Hello?…”
“Good day, little one.”
Fluttershy’s heart nearly stopped as a deep voice quietly replied somewhere in front of her. She stared dead ahead into a huge patch of the nastiest, thorniest brambles she had ever seen. Two enormous, yellow eyes suddenly opened to peer at her through a small opening. Fluttershy sunk even lower to the ground. She could see shadows around the eyes, shadows that made up the shape of some gigantic beast resting in the brambles.
“Where might a pony like yourself be going?” it asked. Fluttershy was frightened of whatever creature lay within the thicket, but a small part of her was glad to finally have someone to talk to.
“I-I don’t really know, sir,” she mumbled, “I’m lost, and I don’t know where I am or how I got here…” She paused, her shivering form shying back from the creature, “I just want to get back home.” There was a brief silence before the thing in the brambles spoke.
“Where do you come from?” it asked, its strong, unwavering tone contrasting against the timid Pegasus’s cracking voice. Fluttershy stared into the yellow eyes, trying to make out the animal they belonged to before answering.
“Ponyville. I mean, I live there now, but I, um…” Her voice died away the brambles began to rustle and shudder. The creature was moving, and as it did the mare remained still. It snaked forward through the thicket, its bulk moving with surprising grace.
At last Fluttershy saw a gargantuan paw step out of the vegetation. It bore long, black claws, and was covered in cloudy gray fur. That paw alone looked big enough to crush her skull, but it was soon followed by the rest of the beast. Its thick fur was dark and steely, covering its lithe, powerful form. It came loping out of the brambles on four long, sturdy legs towards the Pegasus. Fluttershy looked up into the creature’s face as it became visible. Its eyes stared out above a set of long, powerful jaws, grinning at her with an impossible number of fangs.
It was a massive wolf, a little larger than a bear.
For a moment Fluttershy stared at the beast, her mind blank, unable to move.
“I’ve never heard of Ponyville,” he said, “Is it far from here?”
“I…Don’t know,” the mare finally sputtered, “I think it…might be.” She gulped as the enormous predator sat down on his haunches. Fluttershy noticed something on his abdomen. It stood out against the lighter fur of his underside; black, coarse, and jagged. In only a moment she knew what it was--A large wound where the flesh had been torn open. With horror the Pegasus realized that it had been crudely stitched back together with a length of thick, leather cord.
Something cold and wet suddenly brushed against the top of her head. The mare remained frozen as she it twitch, letting out two streams of hot, moist air.
“Hmm…” muttered the wolf, inhaling deeply, “I don’t recognize your scent at all. You must be very far from…Wait…” He exposed his glistening teeth in a wide grin. “Do I smell rabbit?” Fluttershy slowly nodded as the wolf drew his muzzle away from her scalp.
“Yes,” she breathed, “I have one for a pet.” The wolf smiled at her. As friendly as it seemed, it did nothing to calm the Pegasus.
“You’re very quiet for a pony,” he said, “Even I can barely hear you.” Fluttershy watched as his ragged ears twitched, as if in emphasis.
“I-I’m sorry,” she said, trying her hardest to speak above a whisper, “I can be louder. I mean, if you want me to be.” The mare squeaked as the wolf opened his gaping jaws, revealing a long, flat, pinkish tongue as he let out a chuckle.
“Oh, you needn’t worry. I was only joking. I can hear you just fine. In fact, I can even hear your heart beating.” Fluttershy suddenly became aware of her heartbeat. It was racing along, terrified as ever, even more so now that she knew the wolf could hear it.
“Excuse me, um, Mr. Wolf. C-could you tell me where I am?” The canine’s smile grew even wider, wider than Fluttershy thought possible.
“You’re in Grimm’s Land,” he said.
“Grimm?” echoed the Pegasus. The name didn’t sound very inviting.
“The sorcerer who rules this place,” said the wolf. Fluttershy’s ears rose up. A sorcerer dealt with magic. Twilight Sparkle had used magic many times to help her many times.
“Do you think that…maybe he could help me find my way home? I mean, if he has time; I don’t want to bother him…”
“I suppose he could,” the wolf replied as he stood up again, “I can take you to him, if you want.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Really?” she murmured, “Oh, Thank you. That would be really helpful, and I--” The smile that had been slowly growing on her face vanished. The mare's pupils shrunk with terror as she saw the wolf’s mouth become a cavern of teeth and tongue as it lunged toward her.
