By the time they reached the very edge of Ponyville proper, they had exercised all the completely non-hunter conversation topics that Sunset could think of. Rainbow’s wasn’t really into very much TV shows that weren’t available on the average cheap motel TV, so she couldn’t talk about any that she’d seen, and Dr. Sexy M.D was absolutely off the table.
“So, how are the Apples, anyway?”
“Still runnin’ their business. Shining says he’s pretty sure they’re teaching Apple Bloom how to fight with a knife.”
“Isn’t she a bit young?”
“Twilight said she learned how to use a knife when she was five.”
“That’s different.”
“Not really.”
Silence, once again. This time, Sunset wanted it to stay.
She traced the web of the faded scars on the palm of her right hand.
Sunset woke up from a brief nap when they stopped to grab an early breakfast at a drive-through for some obscure chain Sunset had never heard of, settled next to a gas station and tiny motel with peeling bright blue paint.
The surrounding landscape was rolling hills of grass and clusters of trees, large swaths of flowers, the river, and rocks jutting up from underneath layers of dirt being some of the only variations in the large waving progression of foothills until the large purple-ish rock spikes of Mount Canter and the thick forests preceding the more lumpy shape of the Foal Mountains.
Rainbow had still been moving stiffly. She had insisted that she re-fuel the Impala while Sunset retrieved their food, tossing a credit card (which was under the fake name Geode Sparkler) at her and telling her not to forget the onions on her burger. A wounded Rainbow Dash could be even more stubborn than normal (at least in Sunset’s experience), so she hadn’t argued. She did watch Rainbow carefully while she waited for their food.
“This brings me back.” Sunset commented as she leaned over the hood of the car, glancing at Rainbow who was leaning against the side of the Impala, right leg rapidly bouncing as she chewed on her own burger and staring down the gas pump. “Cheap, roadside food in the middle of nowhere, on our way to hunt down some thing in some small town.” She sighed, watching the shadow of a bird pass by overhead. “Ah, memories.”
A small, fond smile came to Rainbow’s face before she took another bite. Sunset took a bite of her own, eyes shifting to the dusty barren road that continued on. She couldn’t see the turn that would take them to Hollow Shades, but the map said it was there, a mile before a railroad cut over the river and continued on to Hollow Shades.
Even after the boom of car culture in the early 40s, trains and railroads were still used and valued as they had been nearly a century ago.
“Remember that time you got food poisoning while we were trying to find that ghost back in Clydesville?”
“Oh, for the love of God, don’t remind me.”
“Oh- remember that time where you and Shining got into a hot dog eating contest while we were on a case in that town near Vanhoover-”
The gas pump chose now to chime, which Sunset wouldn’t have let stop her, but Rainbow’s sudden response did. Rainbow pushed off the side of the car and set her burger down on the wrapping paper on top of the Impala.
“We should be at Hollow Shades in about an hour and a half.” Rainbow announced from behind the Impala.
“Unless you break the speed limit?” Sunset asked around a mouthful of burger.
“I was already planning on doing that anyway.”
Three minutes later, they were back in the Impala.
Then, they were back on the road. On their way to fight some paranormal monster, rescue their friends (or burn their corpses, but Sunset refused to tolerate that image), to the tune of some 80s rock song that sounded vaguely familiar to the early days, fresh out of high school and dealing with things no person ever should (even in the realm of dreams).
The sudden transition to a song that instantly had Sunset thinking screamo band reminded her that; one, she wasn’t fresh out of high school anymore. She was twenty-three years old. And two, she was just going to go help old friends. By Tuesday morning, she would be getting ready for a college interview and this weekend would seem like a painfully surreal experience, just as it had when Rainbow arrived.
Sunset forced down the rest of her burger at the memories that left a sour-sweet feeling in her gut.
They reached the edge of the forest surrounding Hollow Shades two hours later as Rainbow has estimated, the sky beginning to change color as the sun rose, turning the distant shape of Canterlot shades of gold, orange, and rosey pink.
The sun was just rising over the dark trees as they drove on alongside the railroad track, Rainbow taking speed going back down to the legal limit which was a very big difference than what she had been going at.
The connection to the radio got somewhat spotty surrounded by thick trees, inducing some crackly interruptions that made Sunset’s ears hurt. She turned the radio off, only receiving a brief look from Rainbow before she decided to initiate conversation for the first time in the past two hours. The last conversation they’d had was Rainbow asking how rough school must be to have Sunset looking so worn out.
“So, where was this patch of road you were talking about? The one where the guys got snatched.”
“It’s this road, just on the edge of town. Sorta like a shortcut, I guess. It’s not a very popular road. It goes from one part of town around to the neighborhoods.”
“This place’s got suburbs?”
“Nah, this place doesn’t get much in ways of people every year. Twilight told me the statistics but… But I wasn’t paying much attention to what she said.”
“This town has a hospital, though?”
“Uhm, yeah, why?” Rainbow glanced over to see Sunset opening the glove box, pulling an old phone from a shoebox and shutting the glovebox with her knee while she opened the phone. “What’re you doing?”
“I’m gonna check with the hospital, see if anyone showed up.”
“I already tried that yesterday.”
“Yeah, well, that was yesterday.”
Rainbow huffed before offering the number to the Hollow Shades Medical Center. Sunset thanked her as she dialed the number, but Rainbow sounded distracted with her ‘you’re welcome’ as she returned her focus to the road.
She offered some FBI agent’s name before Sunset could even get the whole question out to the man on the other end of the line.
The hospital didn’t have anyone admitted that matched the description. Sunset had to assure them a missing person report was already filed (throwing her horrible skills of lying in stark contrast to Rainbow’s) and that they didn’t need to keep an eye out for anyone.
“Alright, thank you.” Sunset said quickly, hanging up and taking a deep breath. “Hey, Rainbow, what’s the coroner’s-”
“Already checked there, too. They haven’t received any bodies -- or body parts -- in the past week. The coroner said with their sudden increase in missing persons, it’s concerning.”
Sunset couldn’t bring herself to say that it didn’t take an entire day for a person to fully die, especially not in their profession. Rainbow would probably push her out of the car or bash her skull in on the dashboard (wouldn’t be the first time cleaning blood out of the Impala) if Sunset even dared to say it.
Not like Sunset would know what she’d do if Twilight and Shining’s bodies were actually there. Her mind refused to consider that possibility longer than a few brief seconds in any greater detail than a sentence, much like a stubborn child.
“So, we gonna stop at the nearest motel?”
“Yup. Maybe ask if they’ve had any people check in within the past week.”
“Alright. And if that doesn’t help?”
“We try and hunt down whatever they were hunting. That’ll get us somewhere.”
The road stopped hugging the railroad, gradually curving away, about a minute before the welcome sign. A thick wooden sign, splintering through its paint with new plants deciding to use its legs to their advantage for maximum sun exposure. Carved into the sign in big letters was; Welcome to Hollow Shades.
The buildings that lined the streets of Hollow Shades were just what one would expect in a small town in the middle of the woods. All of them had a similar design, made of wood, concrete, and bricks. A style mix between Unicornia gothic and cabins you’d rent out for a camping trip in the middle of the White Tail Woods.
The two stopped at the first motel they saw which was probably the only one in town as the town didn’t get much in way of visitors that weren’t coming for family.
The lobby had a small porch out front, Hollow Roots Inn carved in big letters over the overhang, similar to the city’s welcome sign.
The inside of the lobby had red, patterned wallpaper and hardwood floors. Whatever walls didn’t have a window had a landscape painting. An old fan with a yellowed old lightbulb took up the space on the ceiling. There was a painting that was mostly sparkling green-blue ocean. Rolling hills and the distant, rigid shadows of mountains, and a large bridge spanned from high up into somewhere out of view. It covered a good portion of the wall behind an old wooden desk.
Entering the lobby triggered an old-looking bell above the door. An older man, gray starting to streak into his hair at the temples, stepped out of the door to the right of the desk and quickly shuffled behind it.
“Welcome to Hollow Trunk Inn. How can I help you?”
“One room, please.” Rainbow answered, dropping her credit card onto the desk. The man looked at the name.
“Geode Sparkler?” He murmured, not looking up.
“Yeah?”
“You’re Sweetie Sparkler’s sister?”
“Yessir.” Rainbow said without missing a beat. “Did she check in here as well?”
“She did, yeah, with her cousin. Didn’t catch his name. You havin’ a reunion or something?”
“Something like that, yeah. Have you seen her, recently? I tried messaging her but she didn’t answer, so...” Rainbow pulled her phone out of the pocket of her jacket just to wave in emphasis.
“No, sorry. Last time I saw them was… Two days ago, I think? Anyway, for that room o’ yours. One king?”
“No, we- me and her aren’t a thing. Two beds is fine.” The older man’s eyes briefly widened behind his spectacles.
“Oh, I apologize!”
“No problem. Happens quite a bit.” Rainbow said before Sunset could say anything else, not that she really had anything else to add.
“Here’s your key.” The man said after a long moment. Rainbow offered a quick thanks, taking back her credit card and nudging Sunset back outside. The tag on the key read Room 3, which Sunset would have started looking for, were Rainbow not already speed-walking over to the rooms. Sunset jogged up after her.
She took a quick peek into the window. “Goddamn curtains.” She hissed, trying to peer through the curtains in the next window. She continued on until Room 5, where she instantly pulled something out of the inside pocket of her jacket. Sunset stopped at her side, watching over her shoulder to see her unwravel the leather to reveal her lockpicking tools.
“Hold on, how do you know this is their room?”
“Check the windowsill.” Sunset did as Rainbow told her too.
The maroon curtains couldn’t hide the salt that was spilled over the yellow-ish windowsill. Rainbow looked back to Sunset.
“Keep your eyes out for me.” Rainbow said, shifting her position so lockpicking would be easier. Sunset turned around to keep an eye out for passersby. The motel door unlocked with a click behind her, but before she could turn around on her own, Rainbow’s fist was curled into the shoulder of her jacket and pulling her inside. Sunset had the brief consideration to shut the door behind her.
The inside of the hotel room had a similar style to the lobby. Hardwood floors, patterned red wallpaper, and another landscape painting of mostly ocean on the far wall.
However, this room had clearly been the victim of a hunter’s (lack of a) design sense.
Printed news articles, snippets of slightly-yellowed newspapers, maps dotted with highlighter and markers, pictures, and sticky notes covered in wide scrawling penmanship were stuck to any available space on the walls. Books in at least three languages and with symbols from at least twenty different cultures were spread out on the beds, on the dresser, and the floor.
One bed was made with utilitarian neatness, although the nightstand next to it was currently serving as a display case for a few empty beer bottles. Those were the only instances of alcoholism making a presence in the room as far as Sunset could see. The other bed wasn’t made nearly as neatly, the blankets ruffled and a lot of the bed having books of both the reading and writing variety spread out on it, plus a few scattered pens.
But, of course, the epitome of hunter chic was the salt. It ran in sparkly white lines against the wall. Opening the door had upset the salt line, spreading out every hunter’s preferred demon-and-ghost-repellant in an arch.
“They were here alright.” Sunset muttered as Rainbow stepped into the room with very clear precaution. Maybe she was suspecting one of the Sparkle siblings to jump out from behind the slightly ajar bathroom door and shoot her on developed instinct. Natural instinct was just to run away screaming stupid, according to a very drunk conversation between Twilight and Rainbow that Sunset had been lucky enough to bear witness to.
Sunset noticed the cats eye shells scattered across the dresser between the books and ugly lamp before Rainbow did. “Salt… Cats eye shells…”
“Went all out, huh?” Rainbow muttered, walking over to the nightstand and lifting one bottle up so she could try and see how much liquid was left. Unsurprisingly, there was none.
“Yeah, for a makeshift fortress. They were scared of something getting in here...” Rainbow had briefly crouched down to analyze the salt lines and one of the many books, but she bounced up as her gaze drifted to the bathroom. She speed-walked over and peered inside, frowning. “Nothing in here…” Her voice echoed from inside the small room. Rainbow peeked out. “Check under the beds.”
Sunset didn’t have to be asked twice, not with that tone, and she wasn’t sure what she expected when she looked under the beds. There wasn’t anything underneath them except dust.
“There’s nothing-”
“Nothing?”
“No, why-”
“They left.” Rainbow said quickly, stopping in the middle of the room. “But their books are still here. They- They were planning on coming back. Something stopped them.” Sunset pushed herself to her feet.
“When’d you get that message again, Rainbow?”
“The day before I came to you… Last time the guy saw them was two days ago, right?”
“Same day you got the message.” Sunset said slowly, mind pulling the pieces together into a more coherent looking mental jumble of pieces.
“They must’ve gone to hunt down whatever it is that’s been snatching people and not come back… They must still be out looking for it.” Sunset;s tongue refused to allow her to voice that, maybe, they had finally gotten the typical end for the hunters that they were. The mere idea pulled tightly at Sunset;s throat.
“But what were they hunting?” Rainbow muttered, glossing over Sunset’s sudden silence in favor of paying attention to the mess of paper on the wall.
Sunset walked over, stopping beside Rainbow to observe the familiar handiwork of a neatfreak and a military man. It was much neater than Rainbow’s work when it came to sorting information on a vertical surface, which was usually just slap it onto whatever available space there is on the wall and connecting the relevant things with red marker.
There was a newspaper article surrounding a grainy, black and white image of a huge tree, decorations of all sorts hanging from it’s vacant branches.
‘Hollow Shades Celebrates 200 Year Anniversary’
Attached to it was a copy of a page from some old book. There was a sketchy illustration of an old, dead-looking tree with many things hanging from its branches. Scarves, medallions, necklaces, other pieces of clothing, and other indiscernible shapes. A Memoriam Tree, according to the header of the page.
“Memoriam Tree?”
“People used to attach stuff to the branches… Blah, blah... It was usually grown over the first body in a cemetery.”
“Well, that sure doesn’t sound like a recipe for a haunting. You think maybe the tree’s been snatching people?”
“That’s a sentence I never expected to hear.” Sunset was slowly lowering herself to the point she was balancing on the balls of her feet, fingers tracing some invisible pattern over the theory wall that Rainbow couldn’t track. Sunset stopped at one page, which had some weird website name half-cut at the top of the page. The Witch Founders of Hollow Shades. There was a sketchy illustration of three old women in patchy robes and pointy hats surrounding a boiling kettle, a black cat weaving its way between one pair of legs, was placed alongside a gloomily colored photo of Hollow Shades from a bird’s eye view.
“Here,‘the truth’- according to this, Hollow Shades was a small safe haven founded by witches during the Equestrian Witch Burnings of the late 1700s. It was officially declared a town in 1804.”
“So, what, you thinking witches?”
“God, I hope not. I haven’t had to deal with a witch in three years and I don’t plan on breaking that streak anytime soon.” Sunset cringed at the idea of dealing with a witch. The last time she’d dealt with one, all she could smell was car exhaust for a week.
“Then what?”
“You already said that it can’t be vampires and it can’t be werewolves cause this is too clean.”
“Yeah, plus it only happens in November. No cases of this happening outside of November, ever.”
“What else did they gather?” Sunset asked, gaze shifting to a map, one road highlighted in neon green, small orange circles being placed on each side with varying distances. CENTENNIAL ROAD. It took Rainbow a moment too long to recognize that this was the road people were going missing on. The missing persons posters were lined up vertically alongside the map, seemingly in order of which spot their car was found on the given map.
“Well, it all looks like theory and guesswork from what I can see.” Rainbow’s attention was focused on a small stack of obituaries, stapled together at the corner. Once again, way neater than her typical work. Rainbow’s was flipping through them, curious. “These go all the way back to the 70s.”
Sunset nodded, wandering back over to the bed and picking up one of the notebooks from what was undoubtedly Twilight’s mess of a bed. A list of cemeteries, some crossed out in red, some having names Rainbow didn’t recognize scribbled in the margins in writing she could hardly read.
“Maybe we should check the road out. You know, see where it leads. Maybe we’ll find whatever snatched those poor guys off the road.”
“Yeah. Twilight and Shining are probably camping out there.”
“Sure. Camping in the middle of a hunt. Why not?” Rainbow shot her a scalding look before setting the stack of obituaries back onto the dresser. Fortunately, she didn’t say anything. Sunset was already mentally kicking herself in the head for her comment.
She paused, noticing a picture stuck into the corner of the mirror frame. Looking closer, she felt her chest tighten. It was a faded, creased old photograph of Rainbow, Applejack, Sunset, Shining, and Twilight standing in front of the Apple Acres Barn. Pulling it from the frame, she flipped it over.
‘Hunters in Arms! Sweet Apple Acres, 1996’ was written on it in handwriting Sunset recognized as her own, clearly written with her left.
“Let’s get going. Maybe we’ll see that dumb Mustang somewhere.”
Sunset hoped not. If the Mustang was on the side of that road, that likely meant Twilight and Shining weren’t exactly doing that great.