//------------------------------// // Ch3 The Box // Story: The Tallmare (being reworked) // by hus //------------------------------// When she entered the library, she noticed how quiet it was. The lights in the library were off, dirt blanketed across the floor, and it looked like something large had been dragged across the floorboards, or perhaps not dragged, but spilled. Her best guess was Spike, but, then again that only happened when fluttershy brought in some big animal. Some books were scattered across the floor, it looked like they had been knocked out of the shelves with blunt force. It was such a mess to clean up that it made her cringe at the thought of reorganizing the books back on their respective shelves. The lighting especially annoyed her. The candles were burnt out and thrown off their hinges. The chandelier was out too and when she tried to activate the crystals with her horn they took much longer to glow. Well it clearly wasn’t spike but what kind of creature has the ability to null magic crystals to the point where they were their almost nullified? "Spike, was this you!?" She shouted in the direction of his room as her voice echoed across the library, but there was no response. "Of course, the little dragon must be sleeping in his room," she told herself mentally before trotting up the stairs with a tired and frustrationed scowl. She then slowly entered the bedroom and noticed the room was pitch dark. She then cast a light spell, lighting up the room in a purple glow, showing his room was also in shambles. In one part of her mind, she worried, in the other she thought Spike did and was sleeping. She lifted the covers of his bed, but alas, he was not there. There was only dirt and a piece of paper next to his pillow. She then lifted the paper, seeing thick handwriting on the top of it and at the bottom of the paper. On it, a hastily drawn image of a forest with a crudely drawn pony without any facial features that hid behind the trees on top of a hill. Twilight looked down at the paper and started to read the following I see you have been meddling around in our affairs. Though our activity appears new, I can assure you we have been here long before you, Element Of Magic. For The Silent Queen has seen you, and we have too. It wasn't a lot, but it made Twilight feel a deep dark dread flow through her body. It wasn't a prank Spike was pulling—the dragon wasn't that strong to knock all those books down. Plus, all of those dirt marks seemed inconsistent, like the dirt just appeared and smeared under someone's hooves. all just made her uneasy. had to have been done by whoever was taking those foals. They had come to punish her for seeing something she wasn't supposed to see. But as she looked back at the letter, and with a shiver realized the we meant more than one pony. This realization made her panic even more. There wasn't only one pony responsible, but rather multiple ponies doing it. This meant the foalnaper was part of some larger cult-like group taking these foals, and the group could be the most unsuspecting of the town folk, or even the ponies she knew. But how could a pony bust into her house without leaving any sort of trail or being seen? But that question had to be answered later. There was one more thing that whoever took Spike left behind. And that thing was that box she brought inside. She brought the box up to her desk, cutting the tape with her box cutter. She honestly felt guilty for leaving Spike behind again. Her negligence had gotten the better of her, and because of her complacence, Spike had been abducted. She should have stopped treating him like a little brother when she had the chance. He wasn’t young as she knew him anymore,and if he wanted to be with Rarity, then she should have let him.Then, she took a deep breath before opening the box. Inside was a hard drive, a VHS tape with its reel sticking out haphazardly, and an old photo of Bonbon and Lyra with their colt. it was just them taking a picnic in a park near the Everfree Forest. But, in the background, there  that same mare she saw on the hill standing in the distance with some slight distortion around her body. Even though the weird distortion around the mare, Twilight could make out her features more clearly. She has a white coat, no mane, and a business suit like kind she had seen rich ponies wear before. The mare was incredibly tall, reaching up to the branches of the trees with very lanky legs that were just… wrong. But what made her freak out the most and instantly recognize her was another oddity: she had no face, instead just smooth skin where the face should have been.  She was having a hard time believing what the photo had captured,  "Well... By Princess Platinum... I guess The Tallmare Applejack was telling me about is real... And I guess It took Spike... And has followers.....This is too much to take in."She noticed one last thing in the box she hadn't even bothered to pick up because it didn’t seem important till now. It was another piece of paper with a drawing of an eyeball with an X going through its pupil. It has been amusing watching you react to my messages and puzzle over what you think are clues. Here is a hint for you, Ms. Sparkle: one clue is real. I am not the Silent Queen, rather, her speaker. Feel free to talk to our other prey, the ones you call your friend, about me. You can be sure I will listen. Oh yes, I am someone very close to you. I will greatly enjoy the fear you foster as you try to figure out who I am. She had dealt with many villains before, but the threat was a new one. She didn't even know if it was evil or something more vague. Either way, she had to face this creature of unknown origin and get rid of it through whatever means necessary.