//------------------------------// // Ch6 The New Pain // Story: The Tallmare (being reworked) // by hus //------------------------------// Twilight woke from her bed yet again, still stressed as she remembered events from the night before. She had the camcorder and the extra hard drives piled up on her little bedside desk next to her. She picked herself back onto her hooves yet again and examined the contents of what was on her desk. The camcorder wasn’t that new or old, it had been around for some time and had become a popular type of camcorder throughout family households across Equestria. But this one looked like it had a bit of dust on it, as if the house and the device itself were left days before the incident. Luckily, she knew who it belonged to due to a piece of duct tape on the side of the camera with words in sharpie that read, “Homerecorder of Lyra and Bonbon”.  On the other hand, the hard drives did have labels on them. But each individual name was a bit obscure. The first one was “oak tree” and the final and tenth one was “lovely school”. She didn’t know what to do with these and only thought that they were more clues to add on to her other unsolved mysteries, which made this a bit of a thorn in her side as she thought about having to watch all of the tapes as well as the vhs tape.  So, like any bored pony, she decided to use her recently acquired recorder for something else to pass her boredom. She turned it on and levitated down to the table and used the tip of her hoof to rotate it towards her. From the camera’s perspective, it showed how utterly dark her library currently was. There were no candles lit and no lamps turned on. She had just recently started putting books back on their shelves, noticeable if one were to squint closely at the bookshelves they would see some slots were vacant. As she looked at the camera with a half smile her digital reflection showed that she was just as pretty as the disheveled library. Her usual braided lavender mane looked unkempt and greasy. It was moved sideways looking more like a lavender brush of grass rather than hair, with each tendril of her mane sticking out and pointing in different directions. There were also bags under her eyes and she looked a bit skinnier. In truth, she hadn’t fed herself that much over the past couple of days as a result of the stress and anxiety. After a solid minute of blankly staring at the camera, she placed her left hoof on her face and looked down giving a raspy embarrassed laugh. “Ughhh, why do I feel so stupid for doing this? I know recording things is meant to help me remember what I’m doing these days, but you know I record stuff on paper usually… not use a camera like this.” She looked back up at the camera, giving an exasperated sigh as she looked into its lens. “You know, to whoever is watching this, just know I’m hunting the culprit guilty for the five missing foals and the teacher and ponyville resident Lyra, as well as my beloved assistant Spike. I think it all started when I found her hair, just walking through the woods collecting data. Then I saw her hair. I picked it up and examined it with Spike. Then headed back. But I swear I saw the most peculiar thing, a pale white mare. She was standing on top of a hill next to the twisted trees of the Everfree, she was just looking at us. I didn’t think she was that important until I came back and was informed of the disappearances.” she continued to summarize her story to no audience in particular. Looking very stressed while she talked, Twilight subconsciously began moving her body from left to right as she continued to recollect. Then after almost summarizing her most recent encounter, she heard a knock at her door. She stopped mid-sentence and turned the camera off and hid it. She trotted down the flight of stairs and opened the door to be greeted by the sheriff. “Hello, Ms. Twilight, may I speak to you about something?” In response, she stared blankly at him for a bit before chuckling and saying, “Yeah, go on. What do you need to talk to me about?”  “Well, there has been a report at the now abandoned residence of Lyra and Bonbon. Reports say that a local passerby saw your mane through the window, but couldn’t confirm if it was you or not. There is also the fact that you were running for your life last night, for some unknown reason.” The sheriff answered begrudgingly as while giving Tiwilight a dismissive frown Her haunches dropped to the floor as she looked up at the taller stallion, physically stunned by this sudden accusation of burglary. “That wasn’t me. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t attempt to steal anything. Plus I already I have a bunch of stuff in my house, plus a bunch of money from the princess you know?” The sheriff just gave her a side eye and groaned before looking back at her with a stern frown. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m just checking. You see, recently, in the city of Canterlot there’s been a series of identical murders in the sight of some mare or stallion’s bed. We call this killer the Canterlot Somno Slasher and I was just asking about you, because who knows you could be the serial killer considering the disappearance of these foals and considering you’re the only one with a teleportation device and the only one who can use it. Some residents suspect you’re responsible because there are no hoofprints and no signs of previous entry with all of those crime scenes.” Twilight gave a rasped chuckle out of stress and exhaustion before she responded to him.“I..I...I don’t know why you would think I would commit such heinous actions, Sheriff, because I didn’t! Heck, you don’t know the pain I've gone through, you wouldn’t believe if I described the pain I’m going through. I know there’s something in this town. It hides here. It lurks like some intelligent lifeform that just can’t get enough of people’s fear and confusion. Now it does sound like I’m going crazy. Maybe I am on some level of schizophrenia or dementia even. But according to all of my medical records, I’m not, but there is magical psychology to back me up. So sheriff, find another pony to nag. Everyone’s a suspect. There’s more than one.” then she abruptly closed the door in the sheriff’s face and headed back upstairs to her bedroom.  She turned the camera back on and started going off on a tangent in front of it. But, only she could hear her words. The camera only heard high-pitched squeaks and low-pitched rumbles with auditory glitching. Through the elements of magic eyes's she was only looking at the camera in front of her and the desk next to her bed. In the camera’s view, some pony was standing and towering over the bookshelves next to her looking at her. The video continued to go on, her words being unrecognizable gurgles and squeaks as the Tall Mare stood still as a statue while its nonexistent eyes watched the distressed Twilight ramble and ramble. Then, as her body obscured the figure in front of the camera and moved out of the way, the Tall Mare was gone.      There she was again, sleeping in her bed, hoping that her dreams would drown out the terrible reality she was going through. In her sleep Twilight found herself in the Everfree Forest once again, but due to the way dreams worked, it was different. It had the same foliage and trees as the real one did, as well as its bumpy hills, but a lot was off with it. There were books scattered in piles and big blocky computers coming out of the soil as she walked. The sky was a blank dull grey with a large lack of clouds to be seen. The leaves were all papers with scribbled letters that formed words of incoherent meaning. The most eeriest of details was how devoid of sound the dream was and how the very forest seemed infinite with its expanse. She continued to walk for what seemed like a couple of hours until she felt 2 presences, one in the far distance, the other a few feet in front of her. The closest one seemed to be standing still in a small outgrove while the other seemed to be slowly moving in her direction. Twilight lowed her head and the rest of her body to a crouch as approached the bushes, wanting to see one of the intruders of her dream. She continued to walk each step until she crawled through the bushes then slightly peer through the other side. "I know it's you twilight don't be shy." Announced the recognizable voice of the princess of the moon and dreams "Luna? What are you doing in my dream?" "It's not of any ill intent young Twilight." Spoked Luna in a hushed tone as she watched the confused Twilight come sheepishly out of the brush. " Rather you and I have the same tall one we have to deal with!". The pupils of Twilight's eyes shrank in surprise at the alicorn's confession, stepping forward with empathy in her eyes. "The Tallmare has been going after you too?" She asked as looked deeply into Luna's eyes. "Well, more like I've been going after her." Luna then sat down next to twilight, giving her a somber look. "This thing is ancient, but not of this world. I and my sister had encountered it after we united the 3 tribes, hearing the tale from locals at the time. The creature is not on the same scale of physical power we have, but rather it's not its strength that makes it dangerous, but its metaphysical side. I don't know the full extent of the Tall Mare's power, but when I tried to kill it, it paralyzed me and teleported me back to my bed." "Is there anything I can do to help you?" Twilight voiced in, giving a frown of uncertainty. "What you are doing is a small amount of help. But it's the only help you can do right now. Im still one of the Diarches of Equestria, and as well as my sister. As one of the 2 rulers, I must continue doing my statecraft with my sister." "So your not helping me?" Twilight asked insistently while looking at Luna with bafflement. "For now, yes." Then the presence of the other intruder was felt, and it was closer. Both Twilight and Luna looked in the direction of where it was coming from. "Well the faceless one is here, now you must leave." Before Twilight could speak up, Luna flashed her with a silver glow before she woke back up in her bed. Her eyes were spread wide open and her chest heaved as she looked around her room. She felt fatigued and stunned by the spell. She then turned her head to her window to see it was already morning and groaned. "FUCKING MONDAYS!"