A gentle breeze wafted through Ponyville as the afternoon gave way to the evening. As the bright sunlight began to dim, the pegasi fluttered about the town, lighting the streetlamps, bathing the town in a warm orange glow.
In a street just off the market square, five young ponies were seated around a table outside one of the many cafes dotting the town.
Rainbow Dash was the first to spot their sixth friend arriving. Waving a hoof, she motioned for Twilight to join her.
“Thanks, guys. Sorry I’m late; I had some things to take care of.” Twilight said as she sat down inbetween Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
“No biggy, sugarcube.” Applejack replied, “Yer just in time to order, I reckon.”
As if on cue, the waitress came out to take their orders. Their usuals: two dandelion and daisy sandwiches, a plate of apple dumplings, a cake tray (“with extra cupcakes!”), and a bowl of hay-fries.
But the waitress was slightly surprised when Twilight asked for her usual to be omitted. But hey, it was no business of hers. She just shrugged and headed off to process their orders.
“What’s up Twilight?” Rainbow asked, “Not hungry tonight?”
The unicorn shook her head. “Not really, no…”
“May it have anything to do with your…interesting accessory?” Rarity asked from across the table.
They all looked at Twilight, only just really noticing the peculiar contraption she had strapped onto her front. If it took them that long to notice it, it must be doing is job well. Twilight grinned sheepishly:
“Oh, you mean the harness? Well, it’s a little gadget I bought today. It’s a little video camera that I can strap to myself so I don’t have to carry it around…”
“A video camera? Neat!” Pinkie Pie chirped up, stretching across the table to look into the lens of the miniature camcorder “Hi mom! I’m on TV!”
Rainbow Dash gently pulled her back to her seat just as she began to make silly faces into the lens, “So what’s it for, Twilight? Are you shooting some sort of documentary or something?”
In reply, Twilight’s horn shone a soft purple colour, and her saddlebag popped open. A single photograph levitated its way out of the bag and landed squarely in the middle of the table.
“Not exactly” She muttered, keeping her voice relatively low. “Y’see, things have been a little…strange for me recently. Rarity, you remember your fashion shoot with all of us a few days ago?”
Rarity nodded, looking closely at the photograph “Indeed I do. Was this taken there?”
“Yeah… Thing is, I have no idea who took it.” Twilight said.
Rarity levitated the photo in front of her face, examining it closely “Hmmph, Well, it certainly wasn’t me. Look here, you can actually just see me over on the left. See?”
“So, you reckon somepony was secretly watchin’ us? Kinda creepy, if’n ya ask me.” Applejack asked, looking over Rarity’s shoulder at the strange photo.
“Well, yes.” Twilight continued, biting her lip “But I think… whoever did it was watching… me in particular.”
Silence descended on the table. Finally, Fluttershy spoke up in her timid little voice “But who do you think it is?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Rainbow Dash cut in, with the slightest hint of a grin. “Our Twilight’s gone and gotten herself a stalker!”
Rarity hacked and coughed in a most undignified way as she choked on her sandwich. “A stalker?! Good grief, you think so?”
“Well, it does say ‘we are watching’ on the back of the photo…” Pinkie held the photo up, proudly showing the scrawled message on the back, to five very surprised ponies.
“…What?! How did you…?” Twilight asked, before sighing. What’s the point? This is Pinkie Pie she’s talking to. No doubt the explanation would just confuse her further.
Rarity took a look at the back of the photo, and recognition swept over her “So it does! I remember now, my parents made me study Old Equestrian in school…Vigilemus: ‘We are watching’- Or rather, the more accurate translation is ‘We watch’, but…”
She paused as she noticed everypony staring at her, flabbergasted.
“What?! I have a life outside fashion, you know!”
“Ahem… Okay, so we know what the word means…But what about these two symbols?” Twilight continued.
“Well,” Applejack spoke, pointing to the first of the crude images “This here’s obviously an eyeball… I’ll wager it just goes with the message. No idea what the other means, though…”
They sat back, each pondering in their own mind the meaning behind the strange symbol: The circle with the X scrawled through it. Was it a monogram? A signature? Some sort of alphabet or code?
“Food’s up!”
Everypony jumped as a nearby voice brought them each back to reality. The waitress had returned, laden with food.
“Oh...er, thanks.” Twilight said, blushing slightly. She watched as the other ponies all dug in with gusto. Granted, she didn’t feel like eating, but the food sure did look good.
“Are you sure you don’t want some, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, nudging a dumpling in her direction.
But the unicorn waved down the offer “No really, I’m fine. You enjoy it.”
“Ehh, suit yourself!” Said Pinkie as she popped a third cupcake into her mouth, “Mmm, deeeelish!”
As they ate, Twilight debated in her mind exactly how much she should tell her friends. On one side, there was safety in numbers. But if they knew the details of who…or what, was following her, would they even want to get involved?
Don’t be silly, Twilight’s mind told her. These are the living forms of the Elements of Harmony we’re talking about! They’d never abandon you!
But she didn’t even know what they were up against. Whatever this… thing was, it was powerful, and potentially dangerous. And certainly NOT a pony.
As she mused, her mind began to wander. She looked around the town, watching the other ponies going about their daily lives, working, shopping, socialising. Why did she stand out? What was it about her that made her so…appealing to it? She shuddered as the word ‘appealing’ went through her mind. With that kind of phrasing, it just made it sound more and more like it really was a stalker.
Gazing about again, she watched the town go by, as her friends dined, oblivious to her brooding nature. She saw the pegasi finishing lighting the lanterns as the sun hung low in the sky. She saw the market day draw to a close as ponies packed up their stalls and headed home. She saw the pony looking in her direction from the other side of the square.
The one in the black fleece-jacket.
As Twilight noticed the pony, they seemed to realise that they had been sighted, and made a hasty exit round the corner.
“HEY!”
Twilight leapt up from her haystack seat and galloped in the direction of the leaving pony. Her friends watched, astonished as the usually calm and collected Twilight Sparkle suddenly ran off in the middle of a meal.
“Hey, Twilight! What’s up?” Rainbow Dash called.
“Where’s she off to?”
“Come back!”
But Rainbow was never one for speculation. Bolting down her remaining food in record time, she spread her blue wings and sped off after her friend.
“Come back here!” Twilight called, as she gained ground on the pony. But he did not listen, sprinting like a scalded animal, through the streets of Ponyville.
As he turned a corner, Twilight got a brief glimpse at the stallion. She caught a few details before he hurried out of sight round the bend: a black jacket, pale brown fur, and a dark brunette mane.
Twilight skidded round the bend to find the street completely empty.
SLAM!
Her mane whipped round her face as she saw to the side, one of the doors on the street slam shut. That must be him!
Banging on the door with a forehoof, she shouted to him “Open up in there! I wanna talk to you!”
No answer.
Twilight was growing impatient “I know you’re in there!! Open his door right now!!”
Nothing.
Alright, enough is enough. Stepping a few paces back, Twilight focused her will on the door standing before her. Concentrating with all her might, she felt that family buzz of energy in her horn. Pointing it at the doorknob, she tried with all her might to force the door open, but to no avail. It was locked and bolted from the inside.
As she moved further back, ready to charge the door and break it down, a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned to just see something moving down the road. Another pony, and…was it beckoning to her?
She took a few steps in its direction before she realised the sheer stupidity of her actions. Really, the last thing one does when they see an unknown pony beckoning, is follow them!
Her head said stop, but her limbs apparently were not in the listening mood. Her legs carried her forward, approaching the pony, which slowly began to walk away, down the street.
Twilight followed, now very worried about where she might be going. She wanted to stop, but her body was no longer under her control. Her curiosity had total control over her body. She had to find out who this elusive pony was, and what they wanted!
So intrigued was she, that she failed to notice the door she had been trying to breach, creak open slightly, as a pair of green eyes watched as she went.
She followed the pony around the bend and came to an empty plain on the outskirts of the town. On one side were the backs of houses and shops of Ponyville, and on the other side, the one facing her, were the dark trees of the Everfree Forest.
CRUMPH!
Twilight cried out as she suddenly felt a great weight land on her back. She buckle under the weight and collapsed on her front, as her struggling limbs were pinned to the ground by four hooves.
“Nnnggh!...Get off me!” She shouted to whoever had pinned her. In response, her face was pressed firmly into the ground before her, squashing her nose. A voice, masculine and whispering, said in her ear:
“Struggle, and it’ll take longer. And hurt more.”
Twilight instantly became stock still, more out of terror than obedience.
She gazed through teary eyes as she saw a trio of ponies seemed to materialise from out of the woods. Each had their face obscured by a strange white mask, with black markings around the mouth and eyeholes, almost like black lipstick and copious eye shadow. What their cutie marks were, Twilight had no idea. Their flanks were clearly visible, but another mark obscured them. A circle, with an X crossed over it, carved into their flanks, as if by a knife.
They stood in a triangle around her, as she lay flat on the ground, held down by an apparent fourth.
“P-please…” Twilight stammered. “Let m-me go… What do you want from me?!”
But the middle pony, a stallion with pale grey fur and a messy, brown mane, held a hoof to the mouth-hole on his mask, saying in a calm, gentle voice barely above a whisper “Sshh… he approaches.”
Before she could ask what he meant, her assailants turned to face the forest, bowing low as something emerged. As It came into view, Twilight blanched with fear so chilling, it may yet have frozen the very tears on her face.
It was him. Her mysterious visitor in the night. Silently, It strode forwards out of the trees on limbs far longer than any pony Twilight had ever seen; almost twice as long as Princess Celestia’s. It’s impossibly skinny body appeared to be clad in a black suit jacket and white shirt underneath, with a red necktie around Its neck. Or was it some strange fur pattern?
Looking up to its pale white head, Twilight gulped. No wonder none of the pictures managed to capture Its face. There was absolutely no face to capture. No eyes, nostrils or mouth, just a blank surface, as if a fresh layer of skin had been stretched over It’s head.
As It approached the group, Its legs seemed to shrink and stretch oddly with every stride, sometimes towering as high as the trees, sometimes just taller than an earth pony. Once It was among the masked ponies surrounding Twilight, Its body lowered as Its legs shrunk downwards. It now stood only a meter or so above their heads
Twilight felt her head forced up as her mane was yanked backwards. Her neck aching from the strain, she gazed through her tears, straight up at the pale pony.
Once again, Twilight saw that strange shape emanating from Its back, like a tentacle of pure darkness. The other masked ponies hastily backed away, still keeping their heads bowed low, as if in reverence. The black tentacle writhed through the still evening air, as it almost blended with the dimming sky.
It snaked through the air, slowly approaching Twilight’s face. She closed her eyes.
She felt the clammy, cold, caressing touch of it, as it wrapped around not her head or face this time, but her horn.
The masked ponies watched in cold silence as Twilight’s body suddenly doubled up, as if a sudden jolt of electricity coursed through her body, the moment the black tendril touched her. Her convulsions threw the pony pinning her clean off his back. He landed a few feet away, quickly getting to his hooves and bowing low, like his cohorts.
Twilight writhed in agony on the ground, her face contorted into a silent scream, as the tentacle remained wrapped around her horn. She squirmed and bucked as pain engulfed her entire body like a million hot knives piercing her flesh. In the confines of her mind, it was as if she was being stripped, violated, and forcibly drained of all thought, all emotion, all the happiness, love, fear, anger, despair, desire. All was being ripped clean from her mind, leaving nothing but the perpetual darkness.
The pale, faceless pony tilted Its head back, Its unseen eyes gazing upwards into the sky. Its limbs shuddered slightly as the black tentacle wrapped around Twilight’s horn began to throb gently. With every pulse, both Twilight and It would twitch spasmodically, one in agony, the other, as if in some sort of orgiastic ecstasy.
“Twilight! Where are you?!”
The pulsating of the tentacle ceased as It and the masked ponies heard a nearby voice. Unwrapping Its tentacle from her horn, It retreated a few steps, the assembled masked ponies rushing to his side, almost like frightened little fillies seeking comfort from a parent. In an instant, a great mass of writhing tendrils sprouted from Its back, each wrapping around a different masked pony, engulfing them in its shadowy embrace. It drew them close as it stepped back from Twilight’s twitching, semi-conscious form. It watched as a light-blue pegasus rounded the bend, her rainbow-hued mane fluttering behind her.
“Twilight, there you…TWILIGHT!!!”
Rainbow Dash landed by Twilight’s side, an expression of shock and horror on her face. The violet coloured unicorn lay pitifully on her side, her body dripping with sweat, tears running down her face, her breath coming out in wheezing sobs.
“Oh no...Oh no, no, no, Twilight! Twilight, wake up!” she cried, trying with all her might to rouse the unicorn. But no amount of shaking or nudging got any response.
Then, Twilight turned her head and opened her eyes, looking weakly up at her friend. Sobbing silently, she pointed with a quivering forehoof in the direction of her pale, faceless assailant. It stood, motionless, as if watching her through invisible eyes, occasionally shifting its balance.
This was all Twilight could make out before her strength and willpower finally gave in, and she blacked out.
Rainbow looked nervously in the direction Twilight had pointed. The trees of Everfree stood before her; dark, silent and still. Nothing more, nothing less.
Hiding her fear, Rainbow heaved with all her might, hoisting the twitching, sweat-drenched form of Twilight onto her shoulders, and ran back towards her waiting friends in Ponyville’s market square.
It, meanwhile, stood and continued to watch as the Pegasus and the unicorn fled back into the town. It turned around and, silent as ever, strode back into the trees. The harvest had been quite sufficient, even with the… interruption. It returned to Its home, deep in the darkest region of the forest, satisfied.
For now.