We got back to Ponyville just as the rain started to fall.
The trip had been quiet. There was simply no ignoring the fact that three of our friends weren’t there. Twilight and Starlight were gone. It was a small comfort that at least they had each other, but to us, they were just gone. It wasn’t like before, when I could have gone to visit Starlight at any time. Unless a cure was found, we’d never be able to see them again.
And Fluttershy… I don’t know. She didn’t come back to the village. Our only hope was that she may have come back to Ponyville.
After we got off the train, we all just stood there, not looking at each other. None of us knew what to say. I wanted to apologize for my failure, but… That wouldn’t help. It wouldn’t bring them back.
After a few minutes, Pinkie turned and started to walk away. “I’m gonna go… I don’t know. Somewhere.”
Rainbow Dash trotted after her. “Pinkie, you okay?”
Pinkie didn’t answer her. Rainbow Dash decided to leave with her, and then they were gone.
Rarity, similarly, turned to leave. “I should go check on Sweetie Belle,” she told us. “Come and find me if there’s anything I can do to help, yes?”
We nodded, and she was gone too.
Then it was only me and Applejack, and we met each others’ eyes. The sullen look on her face dug into my soul.
“I’m gonna go look for Fluttershy,” I told her.
She nodded. “I’ll join ya.”
“Thank you.”
My hooves sank into the dirt road when we stepped off the platform. The rain was getting worse already. There was no sign of a blue sky up above, just dark, rolling clouds, and I could hear the wind starting to whip up.
I pulled up a wall of magic as we turned and started walking towards Fluttershy’s cottage. The heavy raindrops slammed against it, leaving the atmosphere in the bubble loud and hollow.
The streets were, unsurprisingly, empty. No fillies playing, no chatting friends. Here and there were hoofprints in the mud, remnants of some pony dashing home to escape the coming downpour, but even those were rare. It had been clear the rains were coming; few ponies were careless enough to get caught out in the storm.
“Is this what it was like?” Applejack asked. “In Ponyville, after…”
“No, not really.” I paused for a moment to think through my words. “Ponyville changed, but not that much. Everypony still had their friends.”
“Even with the lying? How could anypony trust each other?”
“They didn’t,” I said. “To you and I, not being able to trust a friend would be a horrible strain, but none of them cared anymore. Nopony was honest all the time, and nopony expected honesty from others. The whole idea of honesty was just… Gone.”
A sudden gust of wind roared down the street. It stung my eyes and sent a shiver down my spine, and I felt mud splatter up onto my legs.
Applejack gave out a hum. I wasn’t sure if it sounded conflicted, or if she was just scared. “That just don’t make sense to me,” she said. “I’ve seen the damage lies can do.”
“You’ve seen the damage they do when ponies assume you’re telling the truth,” I corrected.
She didn’t respond. For a while, the only sounds were the wind and the squelching of our hooves as we walked through ever muddier roads.
Finally, the cottage came into view. We were both soaked by then, just from the raindrops that managed to sneak around my magic on the wind, and the wind had caked our legs in mud. The gales howled through the trees all around us and rattled their leaves in an ominous warning.
Fluttershy’s door was banging against the side of the house as the wind slammed into it. Mud and water streamed inside.
We rushed in.
“Fluttershy?” I called out as soon as we were inside. Neither of us even noticed the hoofprints we were tracking all over her floor. “Are you here?”
No response.
“I’ll go check her bedroom,” Applejack said. “You look in the kitchen.”
I nodded, and we split up.
The floorboards creaked under my weight as I moved slowly through the house. I couldn’t explain the apprehension I felt, but I knew it was building, making me heavier with every step. Pellets of rain blasted the windows without end.
When I made it to the entryway into the kitchen, I froze and swallowed hard. Something didn’t feel right.
I pushed on. One leg forward, then the next, I made my way into the kitchen.
It was empty.
But it hadn’t been for long.
Fluttershy’s kitchen was a humble affair. Long and narrow, with hardly enough room for a single pony to move through it. At the far end, a table sat in front of the kitchen’s only window, which looked out over the backyard, and the Everfree beyond that.
The window was open. Rain blew in, drenching the table and floor. A chair was knocked over in the middle of the room, and beside it was a shattered mug in a pool of tea.
I walked up and touched the tea. It was still hot.
Something slammed in the front of the house. I jumped and scrambled back into the counter. Instantly, my heart was racing.
Before I could figure out what happened, a bolt of lightning struck the ground outside the window. Instinctively, my head snapped towards it, and I was blasted by the full force of the crack of thunder that came after.
I winced and shut my eyes, but just before they closed, I saw a shadow move in the forest.
Then Applejack ran in, and everything settled back down. I put a hoof to my chest and focused on my breathing, in and out and in and out until my heart slowed down. As I did, she looked over the scene in the kitchen.
“What in the Sam Hill…” Applejack let out a long breath. “Twilight, we gotta go.”
I sighed one final time and nodded as I straightened myself back up. “I think I saw somepony in the forest.”
Applejack grimaced. “What is this fool girl doin, runnin into the Everfree in a thunderstorm? She’s gonna get herself killed.”
“Let’s go.”
I led us around the side of the house until we reached the kitchen window, then looked out and tried to pinpoint where I’d seen the shadow. Fluttershy’s house didn’t have any trails nearby leading into the forest, and I knew Fluttershy usually didn’t use trails anyway, so I figured this was the best way to start.
It took some time, trying to hold the shaky memory in my head and place everything despite the chaos around me, but I managed to narrow it down to a small patch of trees, and we made our way down.
Applejack saw hoofprints as soon as we got close. “At least the rain’s good for one thing.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Let’s just hope we don’t lose it once we get deep enough for the Everfree’s weather to take over.”
Applejack went in first, keeping a close eye on the trail, and I followed close behind. The trees of the Everfree were thick and tightly packed, and the shrubbery frequently stood taller than us. If I fell behind at all, I was liable to lose track of Applejack altogether.
The rain let up a bit as we crossed under the trees, but not nearly enough for us to stay dry. The ground was still muddy, and now that we were off the streets we had to be careful where we stepped, lest we slip and hurt ourselves. A broken leg was the last thing we needed right now.
Unlike the water, the sound of the storm only got worse. Raindrops slammed down on the trees up above, shaking them so vigorously that the rustle of leaves turned into a wall of pure, indistinguishable noise. It completely drowned out any sounds we were making as we trudged through the forest.
I heard Applejack try to say something, but a gust of wind blew through and made the trees far too loud for her words to reach me.
“What?” I yelled out after the wind passed.
“I said,” she called back, “I think the rain’s gettin worse.”
“So?”
“So, if it gets too bad, the wind could start knockin down trees, and we don’t wanna be out here if that happens.”
“I’m not leaving Fluttershy out here.”
“Then we better be quick.”
Applejack redoubled her effort, rushing through the forest despite the terrain, and I could hardly keep up. I considered flying, but a thunderclap from nearby quickly shot that idea down.
Luckily, before she could outpace me, the sound of the rainfall started to change again, and soon we were standing at the edge of a massive clearing.
We stopped in place and stared. It was clear now where the trail led. The prints were plain as day in the open field, and even if they weren’t, there was only one thing in this clearing.
The Castle of the Two Sisters.
Applejack made a break for it. I don’t know if she was worried or just wanted to get out of the rain, but she was sprinting towards the castle, and I scrambled to follow and ran after her. I definitely wasn’t going to fly out in the open.
I pushed myself, running as fast as I could, but Applejack started pulling ahead of me.
I doubled down, trying to force myself to move faster, but the ground pushed back. I lost traction on the mud, and my legs fell out from under me.
I tumbled across the field for quite a ways, until eventually I slid to a stop in a pit of mud.
Applejack didn’t notice. There was too much noise, too much chaos, and she was only thinking about Fluttershy.
I pushed myself up as quickly as I could, but with all the mud on me it was even harder to move now. I tried to run after her, but it was no use. I could only watch helplessly as Applejack got further and further away from me.
I did make it to the castle eventually, but Applejack was nowhere to be seen. A few muddy hoofprints seemed to go towards one hallway, but they petered out only a few steps in. As soon as I hit a fork in the hallway, I was at a loss.
There was nothing I could do about it now. I was alone.