Hours passed as The Doctor, Twilight, and Zoe read through the books and looked for a creature that could possibly match the monster that they saw take Rainbow Dash. Spike rushed back and forth taking books back and forth from the studious trio, supplying them with new material.
“Twilight Sparkle my dear, this is fascinating!” The Doctor said as he finished another book.
Zoe nodded in agreement, “Creatures that we regard as fictitious on my world seem to be real in yours."
“What do you mean?” asked Twilight, as she peered up from her book.
“What I mean is," said Zoe as she opened another book and talked as she read, “creatures that are considered as legendary, like the gryphon or manticore, are as real as the trees or birds here." She giggled “Even you and your friends. Unicorns, pegasi, and dragons are considered fantasy."
Twilight wanted to ask Zoe more about her world, but she furrowed her brow in determination and got back to searching the book set in front of her.
About an hour later, Twilight was starting to dose. She woke with a start as Zoe yelled out “Twilight! Doctor! I think I found it!” Twilight took the book from Zoe and looked at the entry. Jamie, Fluttershy, and Applejack rushed dropped their work nailing and barricading the windows and doors in the library, and Spike dropped the books he was carrying and ran over.
The group of them crowded behind Twilight as they looked at the book. Twilight struggled to pronounce the name. “Skay-dug-en-gah?” she said, a bit perplexed by the name. “Sceadugenga! Of course!” The Doctor exclaimed. “The shadow goer!”
Applejack was perplexed. She turned to The Doctor. “The skattawhat-now?”
“It’s a shadow-creature. A shape shifter from old English legend on Earth," The Doctor said as he clasped his hands together.
Twilight read out the entry in the book “Sceadugenga: A shadow-beast that is neither living nor dead. They are shape shifters that dwell deep in the forest. They are known to sometimes take the form of children, and feed off the love and affection when taken in by a family."
A silence fell over the group as they considered the description. Jamie blurted out “What sorta demon beastie is that?” The Doctor began to pace around the room again. “But why would they start taking ponies?” he muttered to himself.
Twilight stopped The Doctor again. “Doctor. Slow down. What’s going on? What do you know about this thing?”
“Well my dear Twilight. Sceadugenga is known to feed off love and affection. It says so in your book. What I am trying to understand is why it’s taking ponies. It has no reason to instill fear. It has no reason to kidnap. So why would it, hmm?” The Doctor punctuated his last question by tapping Twilight’s nose with the end of his recorder, and resumed pacing around the room.
A loud bang came at the door, causing everyone to jump. “What on earth could that be?” asked Zoe.
“C-c-could it be that monster?” stuttered Fluttershy as she cowered behind Applejack. The banging continued at the door, this time louder and more fervent. Twilight slowly moved to the window to see what was making the noise.
The Doctor felt the same presence he had at the boutique and the bakery. He threw his arms up and shouted “Don’t do it! Stay away from that window!”
Before Twilight reached the window, she heard the sound of breaking glass.
A black formless mass seeped into the room from the shattered window of the observatory. The Sceadugenga had no features, and moved silently through the room. It slowly cast its way over to the group as they started to back away and crowd near the front door. The group struggled to clear the barricade from the door as the shadow drew closer.
Jamie drew his dagger as the pitch black mass lunged toward the group. He threw himself at the creature, shouting his clan battle cry at the top of his lungs “CRAIG AN TUIRE!” The black mass hit him with full force and repelled him back at the rest of the group, who were still struggling to open the door.
The shadow enveloped them all, and began to compress around them. “We have to break loose!” shouted Zoe.
The Sceadugenga collapsed in on itself, pushing the group together. Applejack tried to kick at the shadow closing in, but she was pressed in too tight. Jamie stabbed and slashed at it, but it did no damage whatsoever. They struggled as best they could until the force of their bodies being squeezed together became too much to bear. One by one, they succumbed to the pressure of the creature pushing on them and lost consciousness.