At the next day after the events in the cave, Rainbow Dash just carried on with her usual activities – in this case napping on a cloud around Ponyville. Unlike her, Twilight couldn’t let go of the past events and stayed in the library the entire day till the evening. She read book after book in hope to discover what happened the day before.
She hadn’t had any success with it, most of the books about ancient cultures and lore didn’t say anything about another building in the Everfree Forest than the old castle. She just wanted to give up, as she found a reference to an old shrine in an ancient book about myths.
The book told a story about a cave, which were some kind of cursed place. Everypony who went there never came back alive or died soon after. So they sealed it and built a shrine on the opening of the tunnel, so nopony would ever go down there ever again.
However, it said nothing about how those, who went into the cave, died at all. It just said that they disappeared and when they showed up again, they were … changed. The book didn’t explain it further. Although Twilight was disappointed that she didn’t find anything about the strange carvings on the plate and in the cave.
But it seems that it was just an old tale. That must have been some superstitious ponies back then when they wrote that book. However, it was a nice evening and Twilight needed a breath of fresh air anyway, so she decided to visit Rainbow Dash and tell her about what she just read.
Twilight left the library and stepped out into the light of the dusk, which baptized the entire city in a golden light. Not a single cloud was seen on the sky. Twilight went straight to Sugarcube Corner. On her way there, she always kept an eye out for the cyan Pegasus with the rainbow colored mane, or a cloud she could be napping on, but she arrived at Sugarcube Corner without spotting either of them.
As soon as Twilight entered the store, Pinkie Pie almost jumped into her face. “Heeeeeeey, Twilight!” The pink pony started to bounce around her friend in circles. “You’re invited to a party!” Twilight just was confused. “Uh … Pinkie … I’m just looking for Rainbow. Did you see her today?”
“Rainbow?” Pinkie stopped bouncing for a second and thought about it … “I’ve seen Applejack and Fluttershy today … Rarity is busy with some dresses … Nope, I haven’t seen Rainbow aaaaaaall day!” “Do you know where she could be?” Pinkie looked sad. “I think she’s at home. Will you come to my party?”
“Well … I’ll need to talk to Rainbow first, but if I find time afterwards I’ll come. Promised!” Twilight just hoped that Pinkie wouldn’t catch her with the lie. Pinkie just looked suspicious for a while, then she smiled again and handed Twilight a letter. The invitation to the party. And she gave Twilight another one. “And this one is for Rainbow, when you find her, invite her for me please!” “I promise. See you later then.” Pinkie smiled and bounced again. “See you at the party, Twi!”
“Yeah … see you then.” Twilight left the store and headed for Rainbow Dashs' House. She reached half the way, as she got knocked off her hooves by a whirlwind of some kind. Twilight was a bit dazed at first and didn’t realize what knocked her over at first. She just realized what and who knocked her over when the daze wore off.
It was a certain Pegasus who flew straight into Twilight. “Rainbow! I was looking for you! Do you remember that cave we found in the forest?” While Twilight rambled on, Rainbow just lifted her head again. “Huh?” She shook her head and got back on her hooves again. “How could I forget that cave. You know, it was yesterday that we almost got buried under rocks.”
“Well, I found a book about myths in the library which actually said something about that place we found. It was a shrine.” Rainbow looked quite bored. “So, you looked for me to tell me we brought an ancient shrine to collapse?” She was definitely not interested in this story. “About that, the book also said that it was a cursed shrine. And that Everypony disappeared who went to that place. If they returned, they were somehow changed or different.”
This caught Rainbows attention. “Different? How do you mean that?” Twilight just shook her head. “I don’t know, the book didn’t describe that- It just said that everypony who returned was changed.” Rainbow was quite confused. “Well, do you believe this story?” Once again, Twilight shook her head. “No, not really. I think it is just an old myth. Oh well, Pinkie invited us to a party. Here is your invitation.” She handed over the letter Pinkie gave her.
“A Party? I guess this will make us forget about this stuff.” Twilight nodded. “Well, then let us go back to Sugarcube Corner.” While they walked to the towns candy store, both of them had a nervous feeling, as if something bad was going to happen.
They arrived at Sugarcube Corner and entered. The doorbell rang, the store was decorated like always when Pinkie threw a party, but nopony was there. The entire store was empty, not even Mr. or Mrs. Cake were around. The store was completely empty, besides of Rainbow and Twilight, who were still standing in the door.
“Hello? Anypony here?” Twilight yelled. But she received no answer. Twilight and Rainbow looked each other in the eyes and saw that they both equally were concerned. Pinkie wouldn’t throw a party and then wouldn’t show up at it. They went around the counter to check the backroom of the store and Rainbow bumped into Twilight, as she froze in her movement.
“Hey, Twi, what’s the matter? Why did you …” Rainbows look fell on the backdoor of the shop, which certainly weren’t usually hanging shattered in its angles. And the blood wasn’t normal. Neither were the scratch marks on the remains of the wooden door, which were still in place or scattered around in the room. They looked at each other and saw the deep fear in their eyes.
Rainbow, who reacted first, rushed up to Pinkie Pies room. She didn’t bother with opening the door first and expected an impact, but it just swung open. Rainbow heard somepony crying and sobbing. Rainbow stormed into the room and looked around immediately. She spotted the pink pony in a corner of her room, completely scared and shocked of what she might have seen.
Shortly after Rainbow, also Twilight entered the room. As she saw the pink pony cower in fear and terror, she slowly approached her. Twilight heard how Pinkie spoke to herself, but couldn’t understand a word of what she said. As she noticed the unicorn approaching, she screamed and pressed herself against the walls.
“Hey, Pinkie, it’s me, Twilight.” She just received a slight whimper as answer. Pinkie kept her eyes closed, until Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder. She let out a shriek, opened her eyes in shock and covered her face with her forelegs. Just now, Twilight saw the scratches and open wounds on Pinkies body.
Pinkie calmed down as soon as she realized who was standing in front of her, but she was still nervous and scared. “Is … Is it gone?” She asked with a fearful look at the door. “What, Pinkie, what is gone? What happened here?” “I … I was making some muffins, as the backdoor burst open, and I flew into a pile of flour bags and lost my consciousness. When … When I woke up, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were gone and I was alone. I just saw the blood on the destroyed back door and ran up to my room …”
Twilight turned over to Rainbow. “We can’t leave her alone in such a state. I’ll take her back with me to the library, and you go and try to find Mr. and Mrs. Cake in the area behind Sugarcube Corner. When you find something, come into the library.” The Pegasus gave a short salute and was out in a second. Twilight looked after her friend as she left, then she turned over to Pinkie Pie, who was still cowering in the corner.
“Well, Pinkie … You can’t stay here for sure. We’ll be going into the library, okay?” Pinkie slowly nodded, but didn’t move, Twilight had to help her up and push her out of the store. As they passed at the sales room, Twilight threw a worried look into the backroom, but it was like they left there. Whatever did this, it was gone now. She just hoped Rainbow wouldn’t stumble upon it. She left Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie and went on to the library. Maybe she could find another book about what was going on.
While Twilight took Pinkie to the library, Rainbow followed a track of blood spots on the ground she just found outside of the stores backdoor. She had to fly on a low altitude to see the small red spots on the ground. It was even more complicated by passengers crossing her way. Soon, she reached the borders of Everfree Forest. The trail of blood led directly between the trees. The Pegasus didn’t think twice and followed the trail into the forest.
It turned dark, and the moon rose up. His light fell through the leaves of the trees and reflected on the blood on the ground, which glittered in a bright red on the dark green grass. The Pegasus slowed down and followed the red dots, now hovering just over the ground. Soon, the dots became more frequently and were easier to follow. Sometimes Rainbow also saw the same claw marks on the trees as on the door in Sugarcube Corner.
But she didn’t think about returning to Twilight without finding out what happened at the store. Soon, also blood smears appeared on the ground, as if somepony with a serious injury was dragged over the ground. Suddenly she stumbled upon a puddle of blood – with the hat that Mr. Cake usually had worn during his work . The Pegasus picked up the hat with her hooves and flew up into the sky, ignoring leaves and branches in her way.
She hovered a while over the tree tops. Not too far away, she could see the glade Twilight and herself found that shrine. Then she turned around and flew into the direction of Ponyville, the bloodstained hat in her hooves. She didn’t know what she should tell Pinkie, or even if she should tell her the bad news. But Twilight had to know that this thing wasn’t just kidnapping ponies without reason.
She had the feeling that Twilight and she were responsible for this. It surely weren’t a coincidence that the blood led her to the glade. Rainbow flew to the library and just hoped that they could stop that thing before it attacks other innocent ponies. But for now, all she could do was to fly back to Twilight and Pinkie and to tell them what she found. She looked at the bloodstained hat once more. It would probably better not to confront Pinkie with it right now.
It became night now, and the air was cold, so Rainbow hurried up a bit, soon leaving the forest and flying over buildings again now.