//------------------------------//
// Part One: The Story Unfolds 
// Story: Absence Of Life 
// by AnnEldest 
//------------------------------//

“Let me see what you have,” Spike said as he took the pictures from Discord’s paw.

The night had settled over us at the point as the weather violently expressed itself through streaks of lightning and thunder. The trees swayed violently to the rhythm of the rain as the bombardment of water showed no mercy to the landscape. 

Discord seemed especially on edge as he jumped at every clash of thunder that passed by him. I couldn’t tell if it was due to Trixie’s condition or due to the fact that he was perhaps used to the routine of ghosts, symbols, and finding what everything means in the end. I was just glad that the routine involved Spike as he seemed so calm at the moment. I was always curious about how he processed the moment whenever we came to him asking about the meaning of whatever supernature we had for him.

“Alright,” Spike sighed as he brought about one of his infamous death books. He flipped through the pages quickly scanning through every line and passing every terrifying picture. 

Discord took a deep sigh as he walked over to the window and pecked out to the crowded night sky. His eyes light up as another streak of lighting blattered the landscape. I too was mesmerized by the intensity of the display; It seemed oddly fitting as it often did whenever we found ourselves dealing with spirits.

“Wow, Discord gasped. “It seems the pegasus is trying out a touch of chaos in the weather tonight. No doubt they found their inspiration from yours truly.” He chuckled slightly, though it seemed oddly for himself as if he didn’t expect a response.

I tried to respond but my jaw was locked as my mind was flustered with thoughts. I couldn’t even make out whatever Spike said as a response. It was all just a blur of sounds that clashed together in an attempt to be understood. Alas, all was lost before the war that waged overhead, and the great rumble that came from it. 

Some time had passed and Spike seemed frustrated as he found no information through numerous books. Discord seemed only amused by his frustration as if it brought him comfort. I on the other hoof was lost in my own world that only included whatever monstrosity was in front of me. 

The book read about a devious little beast that had another odd name that I couldn't pronounce, but apparently, it roughly translated to the evil changeling, shifter child, or skin deserve. They were said to disguise themselves as the younglings of other species. They would then feed off of the mothers of the species until they were dead. They were known to be very territorial and protective of their food source; they would die protecting their food from even their own kind. Apparently, they were also very toxic and extremely poisonous which only added to their lethality. 

Suddenly the changelings that we had all come to know and love didn’t seem that bad. I was certainly glad that we got stuck with Chrysalis instead of those little demons. For some reason, my mind took this back to Cadence and the incident that we had with her. An incident that seemed like a lifetime ago by that point.

“Welp,” Spike groaned. “I got nothing.” He tossed the book aside in submission.

“Really?” Discord chuckled. “You found nothing?”

“Nope,” Spike sighed. “It seems that these books mostly have lore and myths from a totally different part of Equestria that apparently don’t involve any of these symbols.”

“So you have nothing then,” I finally said. 

“Well, not nothing.” Spike turned around and brought out another much more normal-looking book. “Capper and I did find a few things while you and Discord were out.” 

“Such as?” Discord jumped.

“It seems that our friend Savannah was in fact a resident of Equestria quite some time ago.” He flipped to a page that had many old newspapers and many small papers clipped to the side of the page. “She was a nurse at the village and tended foals of their illnesses. She was apparently known as the best nurse of the village.”

“Cool cool,” Discord edged on. “And? What happened to her?”

“Well,” Spike cringed. “I can’t confirm this 100 percent, but I think I have a clear picture of what went on.” He took a deep breath as he prepared his story for us. “So this is Timber Wing,” He said as he held up a picture of a tall well-built stallion. “He had a huge crush on Savannah here. This was confirmed by a report that many gave of him trying to kiss her but was rejected by her. There were a lot of rumors going around by other nurses who were clearly jealous of Savanna.”

“Rumours?” I whispered.

“Ya, they would say she was a witch and that she used dark magic in order to heal the foals. Obviously just a cheap tactic in order to ruin her. However, what seemed to do it is when Tinder Wing’s son fell ill and seemingly died overnight in Savanna’s care.”

“Ahhh,” Discord said as he nodded his head. He clearly saw where the story was leading.

“No doubt,” Spike continued. “This caused the other nurses to go wild on their accusations and others were quick to follow. Tinder Wing was no doubt also quick to jump on the train as he had just lost his son and was rejected by her. Though the story varies here, it seems that he offered to drop the accusations if she agreed to marry him.”

“She said no,” I confirmed as I too nodded my head knowing pretty much what happened.

“Yup, and this led to a trial of whether she really was a witch or not. Despite the counsel actually voting to let her go at first, Tinder Wing’s influence had the charges go through. This left her to deal with the maximum penalty of having her limbs removed one by one, being scalped, and then burnt at the stack.”

“Sweet heaven!” I gasped.

“What the Hell?!” Discord gasped in near unison with me.

“Ya, they seemed pretty serious about dealing with dark magic.”

“Ya, you don’t say.” While I couldn't see my face I bet it displayed the same horrified look that Discord’s did right beside me. 

There was a long moment of silence as we all exchanged glances of horror. Spike closed his books and started to stack them neatly. Discord and I jumped once more when the silence was broken by the rumbles of thunder overhead. 

“Sooooo…?” Spike said, ending the rain of silence in the room.

“Well, we need to find out what the symbols mean,” Discord responded. “Any idea where you would find that out?”

“Agreed,” I said. “Any ideas?”

“We could bring some books from the Castle Of The Two Sister and see if we can find anything there?” Spike suggested. 

“Alright, I guess,” Discord groaned at the thought of reading even more books. 

“Well, I’m going to be right back,” I said as I started headed out. 

“What for?”

“Twilight’s students followed us to the house,” Discord answered for me. 

“What?!” 

“Yeah,” I said. ”I’m going to confront her about it.”

“Who?” Spike asked. “But also more importantly why?”

“Cozy Glow but I don’t think she was alone,” I chuckled. “As for why...that’s is what I am going to find out.”

From there I had left to confront Cozy about why she had followed us. The confrontation was short and sweet, as everything was with her. She seemed just like a very curious foal who didn’t understand the situation in front of us, so I couldn't blame her for her curiosity. 

"Wait, just out of curiosity, what is the Fallen?" Cozy tilted her head to the side. "I never heard of them before."

"That's probably because it's not really Equestrian. The Fallen came from old tales from other countries. I would be very surprised if even someone as much as a bookworm as Twilight would know of it." I pointed out so casually. My eyes then widened open as a thought came to me. It all made sense to now. "Of course. It's not Equestrian."

I ran back to Spike and Discord who was now at Twilight’s castle. Spike was flying around, holding a pile of books and setting them down on the table. Discord was lazily flipping through the book he was “reading.” 

“Not Equestrian?!” Discord asked dumbfounded. 

“It would make sense why we didn’t recognize them and why we can’t find anything on them,” I pointed out. “Also, it could explain why they were afraid of Savannah. Ponies weren’t and in some ways still aren’t open to things outside of Equestria.”

“Well,” Spike sighed as he went off into thought. “I bet if we go off and do a little more research we could find something.”

“We...” Discord gasped.

“We’re just gonna have to go out of our comfort zone again.”

I paused at Discord’s stale face. He really didn’t like the whole “we” stuff and it was enough to cause me to chuckle. He and Spike began to discuss the We business when another thought made its way into my head. I had totally forgotten about Cozy Glow following us. I wasn’t quite sure why it made its way back, but it was something I still had to but didn’t really want to, deal with.

“And by we you mean you and Luna, right?”

“Nope,” I interjected. “It means you and Spike.”

“What, why?” Spike said, taken back.

“Ya, why? You just left,” Discord also asked. “Where are you gonna go?”

I took a small pause as I decided whether or not to take the time to explain the situation to them. Though the way things were going and had gone in the past, I knew time was not in our favor. “I just have to meet up with someone, that’s all.”

“Really?” Discord groaned.

“Ya,” I snapped back. “You have a problem with that?” 

“Nope,” Spike chuckled. “We’ll be fine.”

“Ya, we will,” Discord grunted.   

After that, I had my way to the second incident that seemed to be boiling. I knew that Capper had left for the hospital to check up on Trixie after her attack, but I still couldn’t help but check in on her myself. 

“How is she?” I asked as I was confronted by the guardian. 

“The doctor says she’s fine for now, though they admit that they’re not quite sure what was wrong with her.”

“What do you mean?” I gasped.

“Well,” he chuckled. “There really weren't any injuries to her besides a single bite mark.” Capped turned to her room and then back at me. “I don’t know, it just seems…”

“Off,” I added. 

“Ya.” He paused for a moment as he watched another nurse walk in and out of her room. He then cleared his throat as he smiled at me. “What about you? You find anything?”

“Not about the symbols,” I sighed. “They're not from anywhere around here so Spike couldn’t find anything in any of his 2 million demon books.”

“Ehh,” Capper said with another smile. “I’m sure they’ll find something with a little bit of time. 

“I sure hope so,” I whispered to myself.

“Excuse me,” One of the doctors called out to us. “She’s awake now.”

Capper and I both lit up for a brief moment as we exchanged smiles of relief. We ran into the room as my heart was beating both out of anticipation and relief. Sure enough, Trixie was sitting up as a nurse was talking to her and asking her if she felt any pain. The nurse then checked her eyes and wrote something down on her clipboard.

“Trixie?” I called out. Trixie just glanced over to me and then back to the wall in front of her. Her head swayed slightly and her eyes stood still. 

“Are you alright?” I got closer and waved my hoof in front of her face as I tried to get some kind of response from her. “Are you feeling ok?” I stood up after a moment of silence and looked at the nurse.

“She was like this when I was trying to ask her questions too. I think she’s just in shock.”

I knelt down again and tried a softer tone. “ Hey, Trixie?” I whispered. “Can you hear me?” I was surprised when she actually nodded in response. 

“Ok, good.” I looked back at Capper who silently leaned against the wall. “Are you ok?” She shook her head slightly. “Why not? What’s wrong?” The silence was my only response. I took a deep breath as my mind tried to justify what was wrong with her at the moment.  

“We were hoping that she would respond to you better which is why we called you in here.”

“I see,” I said as I turned to the nurse. “And you said that there wasn’t anything apparently wrong with her?”

“Not as far as we can tell.”

I turned back to Trixie who stared coldly at the wall. “Hello?” I whispered again. “Are you alright Trixie?” She once more slowly shook her head. “So what’s wrong?” Once more, to my frustration, she didn’t respond. 

“Can I help you?” I groaned as I plopped my head down in defeat at her silence.

“Hold on,” Capper said as he pulled me back. “Let me try something.” He went down on his knees and put his paw in front of his face. Suddenly to my surprise his paw started to glow with beautiful golden light. The light took the shape of a small golden flame that he waved back and forward. Trixie’s gaze finally broke from the wall and locked onto the golden flame. “What do you remember, Trixie?” 

“Wow!” I gasped. I gasped seeing what Capper had just done. It had just come to me that Shria must have taught Capper a few things about using his power while they were at Las pegasus. This was a talk I planned on bringing up to Capper later.

“Pain,” Trixie whispered. 

“I remember the pain.”