Chapter 1
"Are you sure this is safe, Twilight?" Spike asked, leaning a large framed mirror up in the center of the library. Twilight had been study a spell to bring her reflection to life, almost like the mirror pond. The spell she found would give the users reflection a consciousness, and the ability to live inside the room reflected in the mirror.
"Don't worry, Spike. I know what I'm doing." Twilight clenched her eyes shut in concentration and took a more balanced pose. "Now hold still."
Spike quickly propped the mirror up straighter and directly in front of Twilight as her horn began to glow a bright purple as her magic charged.
"Just a little... More... NOW!" In one quick burst, Twilight let loose a huge beam of purple energy directly at the mirror in front of her. As the magic struck the reflective surface, all of the energy was absorbed into the mirror. At first it looked like the spell was a success. The mirror was now just emanating pure light.
"Did it.. work?" Spike asked from behind the mirror, peeking his head out to get a look at Twilight.
"I... I think... so.." Twilight said between pants. Sweat was slowly trickling down her jaw line. "Let's see."
When Twilight looked up, the mirror was glowing a menacing dark blue color and was pulsing every few seconds, emitting a low hum all the while.
"What the..."
Twilight never got a chance to finish her thought. A beam of blue energy shot out of the mirror and collided with her. A bright flash of light filled the room, engulfing every shadow within. Spike heard a muffled scream come from inside the light. When his eyes readjusted, Twilight was gone.
"Twi..light? Twilight!"
"Uhnnnng... Spike.. What happened.." Twilight groggily sat up and looked around the area that she lay. She winced at the sudden intrusion of a bright oval of light burning into her retinas. "Spike? SPIIIIIIIIKE! What the hay is going on here?" Letting her eyes adjust further to the light emanating before her, she saw that the area she was in was entirely devoid of any sources of light besides the panel in front of her. looking closely she saw Spike through the panel.
"Spike! Oh I was so worried that yo- OW!" Twilight ran to the panel and fell to the floor as she bounced off of the light that apparently led to her library and beloved brother. "What is that thing?" Twilight said as she rubbed her muzzle.
"Spike! Spike, can you hear me?" There was no answer. Spike looked as if he was worried about something, frantically searching through out the library. "Spike, what's wrong!" Still no answer. Suddenly Spike turned and ran out the door, tears streaming down his little face as he went. She couldn't hear what he was saying as he ran but he seemed terrified.
Worried about her assistant, Twilight turned and forcefully bucked the window, but to no avail. She tried again and again to get through, even turning to magic yet still nothing seemed to phase the light.
"This is pointless! There's got to be some way through!" Twilight stomped her hoof for emphasis and instead of an echo she heard a low growl. "What was that.." Twilight looked around frantically for the source of the noise. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement. Turning her whole body she say a large, gangly creature walking towards her, knife in what appeared to be a paw but she knew as a 'hand'. It stood on two legs, standing roughly six feet tall. Its limbs ended in five digits and were very dexterous. It had very little hair on its body, just a small bunch of it a top its head. The creature wore what appeared to be light brown shorts and a white shirt stained with a rusty red substance.
Twilight backed up cautiously as the creature advanced towards her and the light. As Twilight looked on in fear, she saw just how cold and devoid of feeling the monster's eyes were. She knew exactly what this thing was. A Human. She had read about them in a book on dangerous creatures she had in the library, but she never thought that she would ever meet one in real life. It was terrifying. Knowing exactly what this creature was capable of, she took a defensive stance and kept her eyes solely on the one threat in front of her. It began circling her, looking for an opening but the whole time Twilight watched in anticipation for its first attack. And suddenly it charged her.
Twilight screamed along with the creature as it bounded towards her. Without thinking she sent a blinding white light into the air. The creature screeched and fell to the ground clawing at its face. Twilight took this as a chance and turned and ran. She continued to run until she heard the sounds of a creature in distress and full of rage behind her. Then it went silent with a strangled yell and the sound of something hitting the ground limply.
Waiting silently, Twilight heard nothing. No screams. No sounds of a chase. Just silence. Taking this as a good sign, Twilight slowly made her way back to the only source of light in the area. When she returned, all she saw was blood splattered all over the ground, and the signs of a body being dragged off into the distance. Twilight took the solitude as a chance to throw up.
Regaining her bearings, Twilight looked around once again and noticed something odd. There were grains scattered about amongst the gore in the vicinity. Taking this as a possible food source, Twilight cautiously followed the trail of blood to its source.
As she walked, she gradually became aware of a soft tearing sound in the distance. Slowing her pace, she crept up on the source of the noise. No more than fifty yards in front of her she saw what appeared to be another Human crouching a top the one she ran into before. It was dead and covered in its own blood. The Human bearing over top of the prone form had a knife in its hand and was meticulously carving out large chunks of flesh from its victim. Twilight muffled a scream as another large piece of meat was cut and thrown into a basket to the left of the monster. Twilight was about to turn and run until something beside the basket of flesh caught her eye. A bag of grain lay on the ground. Seeing this as her chance to get some food, Twilight carefully lit her magic and stretched it out towards her prize. As the bag slowly lifted off of the ground, the Human shifted and knocked the grain out of the air, sending it spilling across the black floor. The Human spun around swiftly and made eye contact with Twilight. The creature didn't make a sound as it got to its feet and charged Twilight. She didn't have any time to form a spell before the monster was in front of her. It swung and landed a punch to Twilight's side that sent her sprawling to the ground. There was no chance for her to recover before the Human pinned her to the ground with its knee. She let out a yelp of surprise as the creature looked down on her with malice. Looking to this Humans most recent prey, Twilight saw the knife that was used to carve out flesh. Not wanting to be another meal, Twilight grabbed the blade with her magic and shot it towards the Human looming over her. There was a quiet thump as the knife plunged deep into the creatures neck before it fell over, lifeless.
Twilight sat there for some time just staring into space. She was panting heavily as tears rolled down her face. She had killed a living, breathing creature. Granted it was in self defense, kill or be killed, but she had still taken a life. She could never take that back.
Without even grabbing the grain that started this, she got up and ran back to the light.
In the middle of a vast expanse of darkness lay a prone form. Her violet coated chest rising and falling in tandem with her calm breaths. her purple and pink mane draped over her face and neck. She lay in front of a frame of white light, illuminating a small fraction of the blackness that claims the world around her. Suddenly the light grew more intense, a stray beam of light catching the purple form in the eyes. She stirred in her sleep and gradually opened her bloodshot eyes and smiled.
"Oh.. Good morning, Spike, I hope you had a good sleep." There was no reply as Twilight Sparkle continued to watch spike as he went about his daily routine, starting with opening the windows in the libraries main room, completely oblivious to the mare watching him through the mirror.
"I just don't get it. What am I doing wrong?" Twilight said as she stood up and began to inspect the panel of light from every angle once again. "It's been two weeks and I still have no idea how to get out of this Celestia forsaken place!" Twilight stomped her hoof in frustration, eliciting a loud *clack* that echoed through the great expanse of nothing. No sooner had The echoes stopped, Twilight heard it, A low growl off in the distance.
"Oh no... Oh no oh no oh no! How could I have been so careless!" Twilight trotted in place looking around frantically before finally turning herself invisible with a flash of her horn then holding her breath. Moments later a Human roughly double the size of her walked into view.
In the two weeks past, Twilight had run into five of these creatures, only known to her vaguely by a description she found in one of her books at the library; A book depicting dangerous creatures from a nightmare-ish land known as earth. The first two that she encountered were terrifying. The third and fourth were in the midst of a battle against each other, using anything and everything they could find as a weapon, from crudely made knives to their own 'hands', as the book called them. They attacked each other until finally the smaller of the two succumbed to its injuries and lay motionless on the cold, unfeeling ground. The victor let out a cry of rage and what seemed like glee before simply walking off into the darkness, taking nothing from its fallen opponent at all. It was just killing for the sake of killing, unlike most, if not all carnivorous creatures back in Equestria.
Once the coast was clear, Twilight let go of her invisibility spell and let out the breath she had been holding. That was too close for comfort, she thought as she slowly calmed her breath. "I've got to be more careful from now on." She thought as she went back to looking through the light. So far none of these 'Humans' have even noticed the one window looking into Equestria. Simply ignore it completely, not even glancing in the lights direction. "I can't slip up like that again. There's no telling where these things come from or what they would do to me if I ever got caught again."
Looking back through the window to Equestria, Twilight saw Spike, lazily dusting the shelves of the library. Since her disappearance, Spike had taken up all of the daily chores before leaving the library, or letting the girls in. They would talk for hours on end about something, all the while having pained expressions on their faces. Twilight expected that they were trying to find a way to find her. But with no way to let them know where she was or what had happened to her, it looked like she would be stuck there for quite some time. As the days passed by, Twilight noticed that Spike grew more and more down cast. He hadn't smiled in three days now. Not even when Pinkie brought him a sapphire cupcake. The girls were trying to put on a brave face but she could tell they weren't faring any better. Pinkie's mane was slightly less bouncy, Rainbow Dash walked around more than she flew. Rarity's mane was a mess. Fluttershy talked even less than normal, and Applejack usually has her Stetson covering her eyes most of the day. Twilight suspected that she had been crying at least a little and didn't want the rest of the gang to see.
"Well Spike, I hope you have a good day today. I've got to try and find some food, I haven't eaten in a day or two now. I'll be back in a couple of hours, I promise." Before she left, Twilight placed a hoof against the light and closed her eyes, a single tear rolling down her cheek before she turned and trotted into the darkness. What she didn't notice was the light fog that now covered the place where her hoof had been. Spike took notice of this as he was dusting a shelf nearby and took out a rag to wipe it clean. It didn't budge.
"What the hay?" He scrubbed a little harder yet still it wouldn't come off. "What the heck is that? It looks like a... Hoof.. Print.. I gotta show the others!"
Finding food in the blackness was no easy task. So far Twilight had not come across any living thing besides Humans, which always seemed to be carrying an assortment of edible goods, as well as a means for protection themselves. She still hadn't found out where they get the plant life that they carry with them. There hadn't been a single sign of greenery anywhere that she's looked so far. So the only way that she's even gotten any sustenance at all is by scrounging off of any dead humans she may come across, which is disgusting. And as if that isn't bad enough, if she doesn't happen across any recently deceased specimens, she has to resort to killing one herself, which is no easy task. The first time she killed a human was in self defense, she knew that, but after a while she grew more and more hungry and desperate. She tried pick pocketing the Humans, but they could feel her magic on them and would grab hold of their goods and look for intruders before she had the chance to get anything. Even sleeping spells had no effect on them. It was during her thirteenth day of being trapped here, five days after happening across the two humans fighting each other. There was very little in the ways of food on the deceased Human, maybe enough for one small meal, As well as a small, dull blade that was clutched in the Humans hand. After seeing how the Humans fought, Twilight decided that stealth would be the best way to go about getting the food she needed. Sneaking up behind the Human, Invisible all the while, Twilight plunged the dagger into the creatures throat. There was a muffled grunt as the creature fell to its knees clutching its open neck. Blood was pouring out of the wound as the creature floundered about frantically, trying to find out what had happened. As Twilight looked on, she saw genuine fear on the Humans face, completely void of the cold hatred she had seen in the two previous Humans. Taking pity in the creature, Twilight uncovered herself and very slowly approached the dying Human. Its eyes locked onto her, its eyes widening in awe and terror as the purple unicorn walked forward, bloody dagger hovering just beside her.
"I'm so, so sorry..." Before the Human could sputter forth anything, Twilight began to repeatedly stab the creature in the chest, eyes clenched shut as blood sprayed and matted her coat. It wasn't long before she broke down in a fit of sobs as she stared at the now dead Human before her. But before she had time to think about what she had done, there was a growl off in the distance. Another Human. Not taking her chances, Twilight quickly searched the body and found a canteen of water and a small bundle leaves, wrapped around a loaf of bread. Sticking her prize into a magical pocket, Twilight turned herself invisible and ran back to the light panel before the new arrival could appear.
It wasn't long before Twilight happened upon a lone Human, crouched low to the ground, spear held at the ready. Twilight took this as a bad sign and quickly stopped and and watched. She looked on in horror as another Human ran out of nowhere, wearing all black, and swiftly stabbed the prone Human in the throat and once in the stomach. The stabbed Human Quickly succumbed to its injuries without even a whimper.
"This can't be good.." They were smarter than she thought, using camouflage to surprise unwitting foes.
As the victorious Human stood atop its victim, It did something odd. It lay the dead Human on its back before crossing its arms over its chest and mumbling something under its breath. Twilight looked on in fear and wonder at the apparently new behavior of these savage yet intelligent creatures until the black clad human looked in her direction with something different in it eyes. Compassion. They held eye contact for a few moments before the human took off running into the darkness.
"Well that's new.." Twilight thought as she carefully crept up to the body, looked around and quickly gathered what she could before running back to the light, and Spike. 'I should probably look into that sometime soon.'
As Twilight had noticed during her first few days beyond the light, the Humans only came out during Equestria's daylight hours, meaning that it was safe for her to actually sleep during the night. Rather than staying up all through the night with just Luna's feint moon light illuminating the slightest bit of darkness. For whatever reason, Human's retreated to some hidden place amongst the shadows at night and were out in full force during the day, most of the time running amuck and killing each other.
When the plain of light finally came into view, Twilight broke into a paced canter before freezing in place. Walking out from behind the light was a pair of Humans. They looked to be having a simple conversation, actually enjoying each others company. As the purple mare watched on, the Human on the right pulled out a small rock and discreetly threw it into the darkness, ultimately causing the other to ready its weapon in the direction of the sudden noise. Before the human could calm itself and turn around, the Human that had thrown the rock casually plunged a knife deep into his supposed friends back, effectively crippling it before simply turning and walking off as if nothing had happened.
Twilight stared with no amount of hidden shock at the act this Human had just committed, her jaw hanging open uselessly as no coherent thought would form after seeing such utter cruelty and contempt for another of this Humans kin.
"What is wrong with those things! It's like all they know how to do is murder and be alone!" Twilight was now frustrated by the fact that the actions of Humans were as random and unpredictable as Pinkie Pie on a sugar high. So far nothing Twilight had thought of as true has been seen throughout the specimens that she'd encountered during her time here. Most, if not all the notes Twilight wrote down have proven to be unique to each Human except for one key trait. Each Human knew how to take a life and would do so without any hesitation. They cannot be trusted.
Side stepping the now dead Human and the blood continuously flowing out of the wound in its back, Twilight carried on to the light, being sure to look behind and all around it before finally settling down.
"Now, are you positive that it's Twilight, darling. Not that we don't believe you, it's just that it appears to be just a smudge on the mirror, a dreadful one at that." Rarity said, trying her best to sound supportive of the desperate little dragon who had called all of them there. It had already been little over two weeks since Twilight disappeared and Spike had been depressed and searching for her the entire time. Grabbing on to any and all chances of finding his sister he could find.
"What else could it be? You try cleaning it, it just won't come off. And you can't deny it looks just like a hoof print, and it appeared out of nowhere!"
"Well, say it is Twi, how d' ya suppose we git t' her, or even talk to th' girl?" Applejack put a comforting hoof on Spikes shoulder as he stared at the mirror in thought. A tear was forming in the corner of his eye before he scrunched them shut and shrugged her hoof off of his shoulder.
"I'll send a letter to the princess. She has to know a way to save her. She just has to!"
They had sent a letter to Celestia the first day they noticed Twilight was gone. She helped search with the rest of the elements of harmony but still turned up nothing. She sent out a message to all the cities in Equestria to see if anyone had seen hide or hair of her, but nothing turned up.
Spike swiftly ran up the stairs to Twilights room to grab a quill and some parchment and began to write.
'Dear Princess Celestia,..'