//------------------------------// // Part One: Witch Way To Go // Story: Absence Of Life // by AnnEldest //------------------------------// "I don't understand. What happened?!" Ocellus asked Silver Stream and Smolder. "Nothing!" Silver Stream yelled. "It was a misunderstanding." "Then tell us what you were doing?!" Smolder yelled. Silver crossed her arms. "You won't understand…you haven't seen her...hear him" she whispered. "You mean...S-Savannah?" Yona asked. "Okay enough with this Savannah shit!" Smolder roared. "We're not going to get through this if we keep bringing it up." "So what? We want us to just let it go!" Gallus asked in disbelief. She didn't even hesitate with an answer. "Yes." "I hate to break it to you but I can't just let go what happened to me," Gallus shouted back to her. "Well, that's your problem then. I'm not going to lose my mind cause everyone else here lost theirs." "Guys, stop fighting!" Yona tried to intervene but was drowned out by the others. "You don't understand, Smolder!' Silver Stream said. "You have no idea what's happening." "I'm trying to but I also don't want to jump on anything crazy," Smolder said. "Every creature, let's just calm down and collect our thoughts," Cozy Glow suggested. Every creature took a moment in silence. They took small stares at each other before looking down at the floor. Cozy waited before she was sure that everyone was calm enough before she turned over to Silver Stream. "Now then, can you please tell us what you were doing at the Castle of The Two Sister?" Silver Stream sat down in the corner of the room and hugged her knees. "I just wanted to help. Someone did something in that house they weren't supposed to do. They release something... something very powerful and evil." "Savannah?!" Yona asked. Silver Stream shook her head. "Something that was once her." "Is it her or not?" Smolder asked, confused. "That's what he said." "Who?" Ocellus asked. She shrugged. "It's a voice I keep hearing. I don't know how to explain it but ever since we left the house, I kept hearing this voice. It told me this was going to happen. That we were going to be attacked by something. I didn't believe it at first but I heard the voices just like everyone else. I was only trying to help stop us." "You've been listening to a voice in your head?" Smolder almost laughed. "Smolder stop!" Ocellus and Cozy Glow said. "What?!" Silver Stream stood back up and jumped in Smolder's face. "I'm not making this up." "I didn't say that," Smolder pushed her back. She grabbed onto both of Smolder's shoulders and held a tight grip on them. "Then stop looking at me like I'm crazy." Smolder tried backing away from Silver Stream but wasn't able to. Silver kept her grip as she started to shove Smolder to the wall. "Let go of me, Silver. Calm down," Smolder said, still trying to pull away. "You were the one that brought me to that house. You did this to me! You did this to all of us!" Silver screamed in Smolder's face as she slammed Smolder to the wall. For once, she actually was somewhat afraid of her friend. Silver Stream wasn't the one to act like this. Yes, she could be over-excited and dramatic but not like this. This wasn't like her at all and that's what made it frightening to Smolder. "Stop! Silver Stream, let go!" Gallus flew behind Silver, grabbing her and pulling her away from Smolder. He sat her down on the bed as she continued to hyperventilate. Smolder could only stare at Silver Stream. She tried to think of something to say but nothing came out. "You okay?" Ocellus asked Smolder who only nodded in response. "It's okay Silver Stream. Just calm down. You're okay," Gallus comforted her or at least tried to. She began taking deep breaths. Cozy Glow stood back away from them watching how all of her friends were falling apart. They needed help but they also needed help from someone who would understand what was happening to them. She couldn't get out of her head what Silver stream had told them back at the castle of The Two Sister. If what she told them was really connected to what Luna was investigating then maybe they could figure out what exactly is going on. "I'm going to be right back. Just stay here." Without even waiting to hear a response, she ran out of the room. Unsure what to do next, the students waited for Cozy in her room while she was out. They weren't entirely sure what she was out doing. But it was not like they had any clue what to do nor what was going on. And despite the strain between them, they also didn't want to go off anywhere alone. "And that was when you came to get me, correct?" I asked. "Yes," she clarified. "Do you have any idea what they were fighting about?" She let out a light chuckle. "No, but I'm sure we both have a good idea of what it was based on. I have to ask though." "What?" "Did you once ever think that we were being... haunted by Savannah?" I thought back to when she took me to confront the students. Admittedly, I didn't really think about what they were going through. I assumed that they were fine and didn't think anything was happening to them. The realization that I was wrong came at me like an oncoming train. It was unexpected and would hurt nonetheless. It was like 2-3 hours when Cozy Glow came back with Princess Luna. They both heard yelling as they approached the door. No doubt in Luna and Cozy's mind that it was the students fighting with one another. "That doesn't sound good," Cozy said. Cozy Glow opened the door to her room and allowed Luna to trot in before her. What they saw when they entered was Smolder and Gallus jumping at each other while Gallus being held back by Ocellus and Smolder being held back by Yona. "Guys, stop it already!" Ocellus yelled at her friends. "Stop blaming me already! You agreed to go with me!" Smolder shouted. "You knew what you were bringing us to!' Gullas shouted back. "That's enough!" Luna lit her horn up. All the students, except for Silver Stream and Cozy Glow, notice their bodies being wrapped with a blue magical orb as they were pulled away from each other but still held in place. It took them a second to realize what was happening and who caused it. "Princess Luna?...well this is unexpected," Ocellus said. Luna released them from their magical hold after a few seconds. She scanned the room. She needed to see Silver Stream. Luckily, she spotted her in the corner hugging her knees and eyes seemingly dead, staring at the floor. "What has gotten into you all? I understand that you're worried about your friend. But you shouldn't be fighting with each other." "I wish it was just that," Gallus snapped in a whisper. Silver Stream stood back up from her spot in the corner. "I wish I never went to that stupid house." Luna wasn't sure what to make out of what she just saw and heard. She looked down at Cozy Glow who looked back guiltily. "What has been happening to you all?" Smolder scoffed at that. "None of us have a clue but according to Cozy Glow you do." Luna suddenly felt stood up as the students looked up at her. She cleared her throat and said: "Cozy, I know you think I have all the answers but I don't. I wasn't even aware of what was happening with you all." "Do you have an idea now?" Cozy said sharply. "I don't know what game you're trying to play but it's not working," she said coldly at her. "I'm not playing games, I'm trying to help my friends." Luna laughed while she shook her head. "Fighting amongst each other is your way of helping?" "Yona doesn't want to fight," Yona said. "It's not like any of us wants too," Ocellus added. "Then why are you?" Luna asked. They went silent. They thought back to everything that has been happening to them that was the question. Why were they fighting? The answer used to seem so obvious but now being confronted with it and having to think about it it seemed almost irrelevant. "I guess we were trying to blame someone for what happened with Sandbar," Cozy Glow spoke up. Luna sighed in pity. She wasn't completely sure what was going on but was starting to get a better idea. It's worried her that they might be facing something similar to what she and her friends have faced. She knew that this was something she was going to have to alert the others and that they were going to have to look into. But at this moment, there was another problem in place that needed to be fixed. "I understand that no one wants to take the blame when things like this happen. And friendships can be hard and are going to be times where you wonder why you are friends and if it's even worth seeing. Twilight wouldn't agree with this but sometimes the answer is no. but I don't think that is the case for you. "What happened cannot be fixed nor changed but this can be. You can apologize to each other and take the blame for what happened and work through this together and not against each other." The students looked away from each other ashamed of themselves. They knew that they were all going through something but instead of helping each other, they all resorted to fighting. They'd rather fight over whose fault it was rather than helping regardless of whose fault it was. Now because of it, their friend was clearly suffering in silence and had forgotten about Sandbar who was still at the hospital not even aware of how awful his friends had been to one another. even he would be disappointed at what his friends had become. "Now, I would like to speak with…"Luna paused as she tried to remember their name. Cozy caught this. "Silver Stream." "Yes, Silver Stream. I would like to speak with you in private if that's okay." "Sure I guess," she said quietly with a small smile. She walked past her friends and went to the door. "And for the rest of you. I'm going to be at Twilight's Castle late into the night so if you need me I'll be there." Luna then trotted out of the room with Silver Stream. When the door closed Gallus asked: "So want to explain why you brought her here?" Cozy was both somewhat relieved but also upset and with a sign quickly ran out of the room. "Princess Luna?!" She tried to alert Luna. Luna stopped in place and turned around. "Yes?" "I need to know. Do you have any idea what's going on? You see the mess my friends are in." "Look, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what's going on but from the looks of it you might have more answers that would help me figure that out," Luna countered back at Cozy Glow. She froze when Luna said that. She could tell from the cold glare that Luna wanted to hear more from her. Cozy Glow was afraid of what might happen if she knew exactly what they did. "Silver Stream might know a thing or two about that missing pony you are investigating. You should go talk to her," she quickly said to the princess before running back to the others. As the day was coming to an end the fear in the students rose as the darkness would soon overcome the light. The group had collectively decided that it was best that they stayed in numbers and decided to start up a buddy system; everyone was on board except for Ocellus. She wanted nothing more than to just be alone and collect her thoughts. After slight persuasion, she too was convinced that staying alone was the last thing that was good for their safety. With that, they all chose Silver Stream's room as their barricade. That was of course after they had spent hours cleaning the room up. Silver Stream showed no resistance as she only stayed silent in her room only mumbling words and phrases from time to time. Silver Stream slept in her bed as the others had prepared sleeping bags. As the moon took its place in the sky raining over its nightly throne, kind words were exchanged as the students wished each other a good and peaceful sleep in the night. They all went off to the room and shut the door slowly, each of them very hesitant. They could only hope that nothing bad would happen to them if they were all together. As the hours passed, Cozy Glow found herself wide awake with the Moon. She stared at the rays of light refracting through the window just as her mind was reflecting all of her thoughts. She rolled over to see that her friends were all sound asleep and even a few snoring. She rolled over again. This time on her back and looked up to the ceiling wondering if her mind would ever get tired like her body was. She saw something laid on the floor underneath the bed. She clawed to the bed and reached her hoof out and pulled it out. She saw that it was a book. The same book that she got and gave to Ocellus. The book that held the tale that started all of this. The others weren't aware of the spells and secrets that were in the book. But she knew. She noticed a page was bookmarked. She opened the book and looked over the page. Cozy Glow at the moment wished she knew how to read Latin. Why does Silver Stream have this? Has she been reading this? She laid back down with the book next to her head. She would talk to Silver Stream about it in the morning. She knew this must have had something to do with why she ran off to the Castle Of The Two Sister. Alas as the night passed on, soon her mind ran out of fuel. It finally started to linger. Eventually, her eyes became heavy and she fell into a deep slumber. "Witch!" "Witch!" "Witch!" A cyclone of voices encircled all around filling the void in her heart. A spark, a flame she hoped that once was alive; now only laid in ruins. The whole world was truly against her and the breadth of the flame would set her free. As the voice continued to ravage her, eating her alive, gnawing her down to the bone till there was nothing left but an empty corpse, a husk of her former self. Innocence light turned to darkness, dreams turned to hatred and hope turned to anger. This is how monsters and demons were made. Another voice enveloped the room which was not of anger but of a cry of pain. Cozy Glow's eyes shot open as panic flooded her body. She jumped up only to bump into Gallus. They both looked at each other and then looked over to the source of the one who screamed. The lights to the room lit up and they were horrified to see Ocellus screaming as she held onto her arm. "Ocellus?" Gallus screamed as he ran over to her. "What's wrong?" "Oh golly," Cozy gasped. They both saw her arm which sizzled with the stain of fire that was left behind. "What happened?" Gallus gasped. "My arm," she cried as tears rolled down her cheeks. She was holding tightly on her arm. "S-something b-burned my arm." "What in Equestria!?" Smolder screamed as she too jumped up. Gallus looked over at Yona. "Yona!" Yona was by the light switch watching the others trying to aid Ocellus who was still crying out in pain. She already knew what he was going to tell her. "Yak on it." She quickly left the room and headed over to Twilight's castle. While they waited for her to get back with help, Cozy did the best she could to help Ocellus. She wasn't really good at things like this but she needed to try something. She couldn't leave her friend in pain. "How bad is it?" Cozy asked, trying to move Ocellus's hoof away. "Let me see. I need to see how bad is it?" Ocellus slowly removed her hoof. "It h-hurts really b-bad." "I know it does. But don't worry," Gallus reassured her. "Yeah, Yona will be back here with Twilight and she will help you," Cozy said. Ocellus groaned, more tears forming. Cozy saw from the corner of her eyes that Silver Stream was holding the book. Cozy Glow went up to her and took it away much to Silver Stream's surprise. "Why do you have this?! You can't even read Latin." Silver Stream didn't answer. She stood up from her spot; her breath shaken. "No...don't tell me." "What?" Gallus asked. "Somepony else is here." Gallus froze hearing Silver's Stream word. "W-what do you mean?" The room went silent as a burst of ominous laughter echoed from the walls. The students all exchanged glances of curiosity as they search for the source of the laughter. The laughter continued but was far darker and with a bit of a growl. They all looked at each other and got up, screaming unanimously. They charged for the door and nearly trampled one another as they broke out. They tripped over each other into the hallway as they landed at the feet of a familiar face. "Yona went to get help." "Princess Luna?" Silver Stream asked shockingly. Cozy looked up to see their Yak companions standing over them. They look to the side to see that she had brought the company in the form of a princess, a cat, and what could only be described as a ball of chaos. "I'm not even surprised at this point," Cozy said sharply. "Why do you keep showing up in my life now?" "I could ask the same thing. Now, what is going on here?" Luna gasped. Before anyone had any time to respond to her question the door behind the children slammed shut from a mysterious and unseen force. Everyone stood frozen and stared at the door. They exchanged glances of confusion and great concern. "Well, that surely is something there isn't it," Discord nervously chuckled. "M-maybe it was the wind?" Gallus's shaky voice suggested. "Maybe we should take the children somewhere away from the room with self shutting doors," Capper said. Luna left the kids to the library and calmed them down. She then comforted them and tried to ease their nerves. Discord and Capper bravely ventured back into the room with a bit of hesitation in every step they took. The hinges creak and fought back as Discord force it open. He took a deep breath and sighed as he was getting familiar with the set of all the events that seemed to keep repeating themselves for him. "Alright, I've done this a million times already so let's just get on with this salary." Discord sighed. Without hesitation, he barged into the room and slowly looked around the dark and walls. Though he had witnessed the door slamming, it mostly seemed normal and was far-fetched from what he had experienced before. Capper walked in with a bit more hesitation than Discord and looked around and caution rather than charging in. "Do you sense anything?" Capper asked. "Sense?" Discord chuckled. "Yeah, don't you sense things like this or something?" Capper asked, confusingly. "Umm no, what do you think my powers do exactly?" Discord laughed. "I honestly have no idea. I never got into exactly what you are." "Well, I'll have you know that I am indeed a draconequus good sir." Discord voiced with great pride. "Not what I meant," Capper rolled his eyes. " I meant your soul dreamer powers." "Oh, I see," Discord sighed. "Well, I'm right there with you, unfortunately. Just similarly to Luna, I can see into the world of the dead but only in my sleep. Except I also have some weird dreams too." "There's a connection between the two of you," Capper observed. "Something like that." "You said that it was your job to protect her." "That was what I was told," Discord bent down and looked under the bed. "It's our job to help the living and the dead. I see them from the outside, she sees them from the inside." "So this was your choice then?" Discord remembered back when he first met Silver Blitz. When he said he would help her even when she told him to run. "I guess. If it was Luna's choice, we wouldn't be doing this." "So why do you want to?" Capper opened the closet door and peeked inside. "Forgive me for the false assumptions but you don't look like the type to want to get involved with things like this." "Like I said if it was Luna's choice, we wouldn't be doing it." Discord went by the window. "That's the thing though. She doesn't get one. So even if I walked away she still stuck with them." Capper scoffed at Discord's reasoning. "So you forced yourself to help her?" Discord gave Capper a cold stare. "I didn't force myself to do anything, Capper. Bold of you to assume that I can't help a friend for the sake of not leaving them alone or to be a good friend." "I didn't mean it like that," Capper backtracked. "I know what you meant," Discord growled as he flew past Capper. "Tell Luna I'm going to search around the school." Discord left a speechless Capper as he ventured out to the outer reaches of the school. Not sure what to do, he decided to return to Luna and the children. "Did you find anything?" Luna asked. "Nothing interesting," Capper admitted. "And Discord?" "He's looking around the school." Capper turned and saw the small dragon that was tending to the changeling's wombs. "Spike?" "Hey," Spike smiled. "Long time, no see," he chuckled. "You found the first aid kit?" "Yeah. I guess these kinds of things are a routine now I suppose." Spike Look down at the burn that still sizzled with heat. "And you swear you didn't see what this did?" Ocellus nodded back to him. "Smolder?" "What?! I didn't do this!" She defended. "Sorry," he apologized. "Just making sure." "Actually, that's a good point. You didn't get anything from the kids?" Capper whispered to Luna. "Not really, unfortunately," Luna sighed. "They say they didn't see anything." Capper stretched out his arms as he let out a loud yawn. He walked over to the students and sat next to the little pegasus. She looked so scared and so innocent. It was heartbreaking to him. He put his paw on her head and rubbed this softly and chuckled. He gave her a small smile. The little pony looked up to him and smiled back. "They're going to be alright, kid, we'll find out what's going on here," he assured her. "I hope so," she said. The two of them watched Luna and Spike help Ocellus. Capper could see that her eyes laid on Luna. It was then that he noticed the light glaring off of a shiny surface. He turned his head to see that Cozy Glow had a peculiar book sitting next to her. She seemed to really focus on Luna and her own thoughts. He took his hand off her head and slowly slid the book towards them making sure she was unaware of his actions. He then swiftly slid the book behind him until they hit the opposite paw and stood up cautiously. He got up and went out of view of the group to get a better look at the book. He opened the book and flips through some of the pages. The first thing that Capper noticed in the book was in Latin. He didn't know a lot but he did catch a few phrases here and there. His eyes went wide as he scanned new columns and pictures of very descriptive in disturbing creatures. He looked back down at the party. He hid the book behind his back. Cozy realized that Capper was no longer sitting next to her. Her eyes roamed the room in search of him until she turned behind her and saw him standing there. Capper gave her a parting smile as he cautiously walked away. He leaned up against the wall next to Luna as she stood over Ocellus. Capper glanced down at the little dragon who was expertly tending to her wounds. He chuckled to himself as a sign that he was quite impressed at how far Spike had come in his practices. "Luna," Capper called out to her in a whisper. The princess looked up at him and raised an eyebrow at his actions. Capper tilted his head in the direction away from the group. She stood up and followed the cat as they excused themselves. "What is it?" Luna asked when they were away from the group. Capper responded by holding up the book. "Umm," Luna just blankly stared at the quiet cat. She took the book and glanced at its cover. It appeared to be another one of Spike's horrific books that she had become all too familiar with at that point. She only shrugged and glanced up at Capper. "What about it?" "I didn't get it from Spike," Capper groaned. "I got it from her." Capper pointed to the little curly-haired pony that sat innocently among the group. Luna took no time to comprehend any of the news but instead took the book with her and walked over to the little pony. "Cozy, can I talk to you please?" "What is it?" Cozy whispered softly. Capper saw Luna and Cozy Glow trotted out of the library and into the hallway. "There you go," Spike smiled. He was quite proud of the work he had done as he looked down at the bandaged arm. "Thank you," Ocellous smiled back. "It does feel a lot better." "I'm glad," Spike said in pride. He then went over to Capper and the two started talking. Smolder took this moment to sit next to her changeling friend. "Ocellus, I'm really sorry." "For what?" she asked not making any eye contact. "For everything." Smolder rubbed the side of her arm. She faced the others this time. "I'm sorry that this is all happening to us." "None of this would be happening if it weren't for me. I-I don't like seeing my friends getting hurt especially because of me. I put my friends at risk not caring about the consequences. Maybe Cozy Glow was right. I didn't care about what happened to anyone but myself. Now all of my friends are getting hurt by something that I caused." She covered her face with her claws, her eyes watered. "I'm such a bad friend." No creature said anything; she took this as them agreeing with her. She hoped that they knew that she truly was sorry. However, Smolder was taken back by the sudden hug from Yona. "Dragon not a bad friend." "Yeah," Gallus stepped in. "If anything, you were right. We all agreed to it. We should have known better." "Yona knew we would get in trouble and said nothing," Yona said. "Yona should have spoken up and said no." "Instead, we choose to blame you. We weren't being good friends either," Ocellus added. Silver Stream then stood in front of them all and put her head down. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to scare you all like that. I swear that wasn't what I was trying to do. I only meant to help you all. I guess I should have come to you instead of pushing you all away." "Well, you're here now and that's all that matters," Smolder said with a smile. "Just don't scare us like that again." "Promise," Silver Stream said, returning the smile back. "Yona don't care whose fault it is. Just as long as her friends get along and are there for each other." Yona grabbed Smolder and Gallus and pulled them into a tight hug. "Do you care if we breathe?" Smolder joked as she tried pushing herself away from Yona. "Oh...sorry." Yona blushed and let her friends go. Gallus and Smolder dramatically gasped for air and caught their breaths. The students laughed and for the first time in a while, they weren't mad at each other. After the laughter died out, Smolder smiled back at the group. "So we're all good now? No more fighting?" Smolder asked hopefully. The students glanced at each other and nodded back at Smolder. "Yeah, we're good," Ocellus confirmed. "Yona wants friends to make up," the yak agreed with a nod. "As Princess Luna said, we need to be there for each other," SIlver Stream said. "Now I have to make up with Cozy Glow and all will truly be well." "Where is she anyway?" Gallus asked. They heard Spike talking to Capper which made them turn their attention to him. "How's it going on your end?" Spike asked. "We really haven't found anything, to be honest," Capper shamefully admitted. "Umm, where's Cozy Glow?" Smolder called out to them. "Speaking of which, where's Luna?" Spike's eyes searched the room. "Oh, right. Luna's just confronting your friend about something," Capper said as he motioned towards the hallway. Suddenly the library doors slammed shut. Smolder and Silver Stream jumped at the sound while Ocellus let out a yelp. Spike and Capper looked at each other and then ran over to the doors. "That doesn't sound good!" Yona cried out. "Luna!" Spike called out as he ran to the locked doors. "What happened?" Capper gasped. "I don't know," Spike groaned as he pulled on the doors. "The door just slammed shut and I…" They both froze as they heard screaming coming from the hallway where their friends were now trapped.