//------------------------------// // Chapter 5, Tension // Story: Fleeting Shadows // by SkyHighFlyer //------------------------------// Twilight screamed, desperately trying to pull herself away from the window that she had stared out only seconds before. She didn't care that she was on her back, scrambling along the floor in a blind fright. Her only thoughts were to get away from whatever terrifying monster stood just beyond the walls. “Twilight!” called out a voice from behind her. She could just barely make out the sound of hooves as the two other ponies present in the house at the time sprinted into the kitchen from the next room over. Storm showed up first, grabbing Twilight from behind and holding her tightly, her eyes darting around the room as she tried to make out whatever threat had startled their sleepless guardian. Misty took a single look around the kitchen, and upon noting no obvious threat made her way quickly to the window, looking outside for anything out of place. She saw nothing. “Twilight, are you okay?” Storm said from behind her, breaking her out of her daze. She looked up at the window, expecting to see something. With Misty standing in front of it though, she couldn't see anything. She quickly realized that the pink pegasus had moved between her and the window without her even having noticed. She took a deep breath to calm herself. “I... I saw something... something outside,” Twilight replied unsteadily. “It looked at me.. it was right there!” Misty looked back at the panicking unicorn. “Twilight, I can't see anything out there, are you sure you saw something?” Twilight paused, not because she suddenly doubted that she had seen something, but because she wasn't sure how to explain what she saw. “I don't know what it was... it was kind of hard to see,” Twilight said, “But I definitely saw something. It was moving, and I could see its eyes. I lost sight of it for a second and then it was right next to the window.” “What did it look like?” Misty asked. Twilight could hear the skepticism in her voice, even if she tried to hide it. Storm just responded by holding her more tightly. “Like a pony, sort of,” Twilight replied, “It looked a bit off, but I couldn't see very well. It's eyes were red though, and they glowed a little.” Misty was about to respond, but Storm cut her off. “So you saw something odd walking around outside, you lost track of it for a few seconds, and suddenly it was right in front of you and you panicked?” Twilight nodded. Misty looked like she was going to say something else but Storm cut her off again. “Don't even say anything! So far all you've done is criticize the rest of us for accomplishing nothing, and the moment somepony see's something interesting you dismiss her efforts without even letting her speak! So far Twilight has done more than anypony else in the entire town, including you! At least she's trying to help instead of cowering in a house somewhere and dismissing the efforts of the ponies trying to do something!” Storm glared furiously at Misty, who stood in front of them in complete shock. Twilight just laid against Storm, not knowing how to react to the tense standoff that she was literally in the middle of. It looked like there was some deeper conflict between to two mares, and Twilight had been the spark needed to bring it out. Twilight liked Misty, she was generous and seemed as though she done her best given the situation. She also like Storm, who had stood strong in the chaos and kept searching even weeks after she realized there was nothing to be found. When it came to her choice of how to respond however, there was only one way to answer. “So that's it,” Twilight said, eyes narrowing, “You haven't even tried to do something? Are you content to just sit around while the situation gets worse? It's one thing not to be able to do anything, but just dismissing the efforts of the ponies that try while the disappearances keep happening... have the ponies of this town really done so little?” Twilight looked over her shoulder at Storm. The intense glare she held against Misty told her everything that she wanted to know, and Twilight did not like the answer she found. Misty stared at them, anger building in her expression. “You can't just wander into town one day and expect to understand. You haven't been here!” “I don't need to be here,” Twilight replied coldly. “I know what any good pony would do, and I can't even make a comparison because you haven't done a single thing about the problem. Name one thing you've done other than sit around in groups and ignore the efforts of ponies that have actually tried.” Misty hesitated. Twilight didn't bother waiting for an answer. “You haven't done anything. In fact, you've actively dismissed every attempt so far. There's a difference between not trying to help and trying not to help. You're not ignoring the problem, you're intentionally trying to make it worse!” She hadn't quite intended to go as far as she had, and yet she still wondered if her accusations hadn't gone far enough. It got her point across though For a moment, Misty's expression became an unreadable mix of shock, anger, fear, and regret. Then with hatred beyond what Twilight had thought the friendly pink pegasus to be capable of, she glared at them. “Get out.” Their eyes widened. “As soon as it's morning, you're leaving. Both of you.” She stood up and walked past the stunned pair. As soon as she was out of the room, Storm relaxed her grip on Twilight. Twilight took the opportunity to sit up on her own. ----- “I'm sorry,” Twilight said, her eyes never meeting Storm's as she stared at her coffee. The pair of them sat around the table in the kitchen, Twilight holding her cup of coffee in her hooves while Storm did the same with a glass of water. Storm sighed. “Twilight, as much as I didn't want this to happen, it had to be said.” She reached over the table and set her hoof on Twilight's foreleg. For the first time since they had sat down Twilight looked up. “I don't understand though,” Twilight said, “you seemed like such good friends, and you just started fighting. It was so sudden, I don't understand what happened. It was a pretty sharp change.” Storm looked at her with pure intensity. “Twilight, stressful situations can hurt friendships sometimes, I get that. This has been building up since the moment this situation started. Misty is a natural leader, but she doesn't know what she's doing. She's content to ignore the problem and do nothing while ponies keep vanishing. You were right when you said she was intentionally making the problem worse, because even if she doesn't see it that way, she is.” “So what now,” Twilight asked, too nervous to meet Storm's eyes again. She tried to hide her face in her half empty cup of coffee while she waited for Storm's reply. “Well, I know a few ponies that probably wouldn't mind us getting together now that Misty kicked us out,” Storm answered. “Aside from that though, the only thing we can do is to keep trying. Come up with anything yet?” Twilight looked up and smile weakly. “Yes, sort of. I found a spell for tracking ponies, but there's a minor complication. It require a piece of hair from their mane or tail, and it needs to be less than a week old.” “Sounds like an answer, but how do we put it to use?” Storm asked. “My only idea is to collect hairs from everypony in town every few days until somepony else disappears,” Twilight said. “I'm still looking for more ideas, but that's the most feasible method I've found so far. Almost every tracking spell I've found so far has required some materials I don't have access to, except for this one. It requires the hairs to have been collected less than a week ago, give or take a few days, but I can do it.” “I don't like the idea of waiting for somepony else to vanish,” Storm replied, “but if it works then there's no reason not to try, right?” Twilight smiled. “I don't plan on just waiting. I'll try to find a better answer in the meantime, but if I cant find a better answer, this should work.” Storm smiled back. “Just keep looking, I know you'll try your best. In the meantime, I'm going to go back to sleep. I'll wake you up in morning and we'll find somewhere else to stay. At worst we'll head back to my place, but a group is better than a pair.” Storm gave her a confident, friendly smile and made her way out of the kitchen. With nothing better to do Twilight picked up her book on tracking spells and kept reading, looking for anything that could be of use. ----- Twilight woke to Storm gently but firmly shaking her awake. “Come on, it's morning,” she said. “It's probably best if we leave before Misty wake's up.” Twilight shook herself awake and got up from where she was sleeping, and began collecting her things into her saddlebags. About ten minutes later however, just before they were ready to leave, a loud, knocking at the door. Misty groaned in annoyance as she sat up and looked towards the door, stopping briefly to glare at Storm. Storm answered the door, revealing a panicking stallion. Before anypony could ask what was wrong, he said, “Quiet Dreams disappeared last night.”