Forest Fright : Part 2
‘It all happened in a forest,’ Thora began, ‘just like this one. It seemed pretty harmless during the day, so the young mortal alicorn princess spent the day wandering around, searching for wild flowers. The warm sun made her feel sleepy, so she paused to sit down, and soon, she fell fast asleep.’
Thora paused for effect, and looked round at her audience.
‘When she woke,’ Thora continued, ‘she was no longer in that place she had fallen asleep in. It was now very dark and far from pleasant. Suddenly, the sound of thunder roared from the skies! But no rain or lightning followed. The wind whistled through the trees, causing many of the branches to sound like creaking doors or shrieking ponies. In an instant, the wind seemed to be calling out her name, which echoed among the trees and plants. Her heart raced, for she knew something was coming for her. Coming to GET HER!’
A couple of the younger foals yelped.
‘As the full moon rose high into the sky,’ Thora told her uneasy audience, ‘they emerged from the darkness. Silent as night. Craving the flesh and blood of royalty. The poor defenseless princess turned to flee. But the ravenous creatures eagerly gave chase, their victim clearly in their sights. The princess had no hope of escape, and quickly came to a cliff edge where all she could do, was wait for her doom. Waiting, with the knowledge that they would tear her to bits, eat her flesh, and drink her blood. By the dawn of the next day, all that remained of the princess, was her mane and tail, lying beside the bunch of flowers she had been gathering.’
A large amount of applause broke out as Thora ended. No-pony noticed Cadence. Thora was very pleased with her reception, but was far more pleased with Cadence’s reaction. Cadence was shuddering and shivering violently. Shining Armor was the first to notice.
‘Are you okay, Cadence?’ Shining Armor asked her softly and anxiously.
‘Worried the Seekers will come and get you?’ Thora inquired smugly.
‘No,’ Cadence replied nervously, her lip quivering slightly, ‘certainly not.’
She wasn’t going to let Thora know she’d scared her half to death.
‘Of course you’re not,’ Thora continued in a nasty tone, ‘they only come out when there’s a full moon. Oh, wait, there is a full moon tonight, isn’t there?’
Cadence swallowed hard. The wind caused the grass and some of the leaves on the old trees to rustle suspiciously. Cadence turned her pretty face anxiously. Thora smirked, barely holding back a snigger.
The darkness of the sky was suddenly so much more frightening to Cadence and the trees were filled with such a sense of foreboding.
‘Time for bed fillies and colts!’ said Starburst suddenly.
The young ponies gradually got to their hooves, a few grumbling slightly. Cadence watched as Trixie and her friend, Lightning Dust trotted towards the fillies' tent, chattering actively. As a stray leaf landed on her back, Cadence jumped, crashing into Thora and Starburst.
‘Easy there, Princess,’ came Starburst’s kind and calming tone, ‘try to settle down a bit.’
‘Sorry,’ Cadence replied guiltily.
‘Don’t worry about it . . . I mean, Cadence.’ Starburst told her.
Cadence got the distinct impression that Starburst had been about to call her by another name. Thora had got up.
‘Behavior like that won’t save you from the Seekers,’ Thora whispered in Cadence’s ear as she passed. Cadence shivered.
As Cadence was attempting to recover, Shining Armor came over. I must touch noses with him, Cadence thought as she watched him approach, I must touch noses with him.
‘Cadence,’ Shining Armor began, ‘I, are you going to be alright?’
The question threw Cadence slightly.
‘I mean,’ Shining Armor continued a little anxiously, ‘we could sleep outside, together, if you need me.’
A large part of her would much rather have slept outside, away from Thora, who would probably spend the rest of the night making remarks, but Cadence didn’t want to let on how bad Thora had made her feel.
The thing that worried Cadence the most was not the story itself, but the Mark. If there were any Seekers in the forest tonight, or anywhere nearby, they would surely be attracted to her by it. It was so much more likely that they would come and get her.
‘I think I’ll be alright,’ she told him.
She tried to move her nose towards his, but it wouldn’t budge, she was too shy.
As Shining Armor turned his head in the direction of the tents, Cadence couldn’t help but feel bitterly disappointed with herself.
‘If you need me . . .’ Shining Armor said. Cadence nodded.
They headed for the separate tents. Cadence hesitated before entering.
‘Still in one piece then?’ Thora asked, no sooner than Cadence had entered the tent, ‘Seekers haven’t got you yet?’
Cadence tried to ignore her.
‘It must be pretty painful being ripped to pieces and eaten alive,’ Thora continued casually, wearing an expression that was so reminiscent of Goody Four-Shoes that it was rather startling. ‘Most of you will probably be gone by dawn!’ Thora added meanly.
‘Shut up, Thora!’ Millie shouted, cantering across the tent, to Cadence’s side.
‘Why should she do that?’ asked Lightning Dust, ‘It was just getting good!’
A glare from Millie silenced Lightning Dust. Millie returned to Thora.
‘Go away and leave Cadence alone, you big bully!’ Millie snarled, ‘A fine example you’re being!’
Thora walked away sulkily to her sleeping bag, muttering things under her breath to Lightning Dust as she went. Millie turned back to Cadence.
‘Pay no attention to Thora.’ Millie told her softly, ‘She’s just trying to scare you. The Seekers don’t exist.’
Thora gave a snort. Millie chose to ignore this.
‘And even if they did,’ Millie continued, ‘none of us would let them near you if they did, well, except maybe Thora.’
Cadence tried to smile.
‘You should know,’ Millie added, ‘that Thora made a change to that story. Thora changed the filly from a unicorn to an alicorn.’
It took Cadence a long time to fall asleep. Every little sound made her anxious. When eventually she did fall asleep, she had a rather odd dream. The Seekers were on her trail, she was running, but the further Cadence went, the sleepier she became. She turned her head. The Seeker in the lead turning into Thora, who then turned into Goody Four-Shoes, and started laughing at her.
Cadence woke up with a start.
She wasn’t in her sleeping bag. She wasn’t in the tent. She wasn’t even anywhere near the tent. She didn’t even recognize the area in the slightest!
Cadence’s heart hammered loudly in her chest. Thora’s words echoed in her head.
‘When she woke, she was no longer in that place she had fallen asleep in . . .’
Cadence tried to push this from her mind. Trembling slightly, Cadence got to her hooves. She looked around, hoping to get a hint of which way to go. The sound of thunder rumbled from the sky. Oh, great! Cadence thought, It’s going to rain! As if being lost in this forest wasn’t enough! I’m going to get soaked!
Cadence began to walk. The sooner she got back, the better, and the drier she would be. After a few moments, she stopped in her tracks, and slowly looked up at the sky. It wasn’t raining. It didn’t look like it was going to rain. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Only the full moon shining brightly among the distant stars. The wind whistled through the unfamiliar trees, and whipped around her.
‘It’s all my imagination,’ she told herself, struggling not to panic, ‘the Seekers don’t exist, it’s just in my mind.’
The branches on the trees were creaking, somepony was calling her name, she could hear the sound of hooves. There was nothing for it. They were coming for her. Cadence bolted. She didn’t see Thora and Lightning Dust sniggering behind a tree.
Cadence was running as fast as her hooves could carry her, she was gasping for air, struggling to breathe, unable to scream, overwhelmed with panic and desperation.
She thought she could hear voices and hooves moving at a much more rapid pace than hers were or could. She was convinced plants were trying to grab her, the wind was pulling her back, and that everything was laughing at her menacingly.
To her horror, Cadence realized she was heading for a cliff edge.
‘She was a unicorn,’ Cadence reminded herself, ‘I can fly.’
She only remembered as she reached the cliff edge that she was unable to use her wings. Too late to stop, she fell. In a desperate attempt, she just barely managed to grab the cliff side. Cadence screwed up her face, allowing two tears to escape and dribble down her face. The Seekers would have her at any moment. She would try to fight them, but she knew there was no way she could win. They would drink her blood, rip her to pieces and eat her flesh. Cadence couldn’t hold it in any more. She screamed.
*
Shining Armor woke with a start. He quickly became aware of a kicking sensation coming through from Starburst’s tent. Starburst was evidently having a particularly bad nightmare. Shining Armor got up and left the tent. He thought he should check on Cadence, just to make sure she was alright and wasn’t having a similar night to Starburst. He went over to the fillies’ tent and cautiously opened the flap. He stared. Cadence’s sleeping bag was empty. Where was she?
Shining Armor’s worry turned to suspicion when he noticed Thora’s sleeping bag was also empty. He turning his head to see Thora emerging from the trees, with a smirk plastered across her face, walking back towards the fillies’ tent, followed by Lightning Dust, who was a short distance behind.
As Thora approached the flap, she stopped in slight surprise. Lightning Dust stopped too. Shining Armor glared furiously. Before Thora knew what was happening, Shining Armor had attacked her and pinned her to the ground. Lightning Dust ran for it.
‘Where is she!’ Shining Armor growled, ‘What did you do with her!’
‘I don’t know,’ Thora replied, with an innocent smile.
‘Don’t give me that rubbish!’ Shining Armor bellowed, ‘What have you done with Cadence!’
The volume of Shining Armor’s voice had awoken all of the fillies and a few of the colts, who had come racing out to see what was going on.
‘Maybe the Seekers got her,’ Thora suggested casually.
‘Or maybe,’ came the angry voice of Millie, ‘somepony played a nasty trick on her!’
‘Well,’ Thora replied slowly, ‘you have to give Lightning Dust some credit . . .’
There was outrage.
‘This is a new low, Thora,’ Shining Armor snarled, ‘even for you!’
Many of the others nodded in agreement, the others who didn’t, were too busy glaring at Thora. Millie slipped between the tents while no-pony was watching.
‘You’ve gone too far this time, Thora!’ Trixie exclaimed to Thora’s shock and surprise.
Everypony suddenly turned their heads, a noise had erupted which sounded suspiciously like a struggle. In a few moments, Millie emerged, holding a struggling Lightning Dust.
‘I’ve got our second culprit!’ Millie called over.
No-pony’s expression could match Trixie’s. She looked sad, shocked, betrayed and rather hurt.
Spitfire and Soarin’ offered to hold Thora down while Shining Armor woke Starburst who was clearly still having a nightmare when Shining Armor entered the tent.
‘No!’ Starburst was yelling, ‘How could you do this to her! You monster! I thought you were my friend!’
Shining Armor shook Starburst awake. Shining Armor gave him a chance to pull himself together before telling him what had happened.
‘We’d better move fast,’ said Starburst quickly, as soon as Shining Armor had finished, ‘Seekers or no Seekers, it’s not safe to be out in the forest at this time of night on your own.’
As they left the tent, Shining Armor heard Trixie ending her friendship with Lightning Dust. Starburst could tell Shining Armor was very worried. He put a hoof on his shoulder.
‘We’ll find her, Shining Armor,’ Starburst told him.
Shining Armor tried to smile.
‘I’m not letting another filly be harmed on my watch,’ Starburst said to himself.
*
At first, Cadence had wondered why the Seekers didn’t just get it over with, certain that they knew where she was, then she thought they must not have been as close as she had thought, but then a thought had occurred to her.
Thora. Thora’s special talent was thunder; she could easily have created that effect. Cadence then realized that Thora had probably dragged her from the tent as she slept, and, now that she thought about it, the voice calling her name had been strangely familiar. Thora had set the whole thing up, however, the knowledge was no use to her now as Cadence now had another problem. She couldn’t pull herself up, or even try to climb up any further, but the worst of it was, she couldn’t hold on much longer.
She sighed. Why did it always have to be her that needed help? It was beginning to become rather irritating, not to mention boring.
She could hear hooves approaching the top of cliff. She sighed again. It was probably coming to have a good laugh or something.
‘Cadence!’ called a voice she recognized as Shining Armor’s.
‘Shining Armor!’ she called back. He was at the cliff edge in an instant. ‘I can’t hold on much longer!’ Cadence yelled.
‘Don’t worry!’ came the voice of Starburst, ‘I’m going to fly down to you!’
‘I think I’m going to slip!’ Cadence responded fearfully, attempting not to look down at the ground.
‘I’m coming!’ replied Starburst.
He took to his wings, and flew down to her.
‘Just grab on around my neck and everything will be alright.’
Cadence’s hooves shook. She was barely able to hold on with both hooves. She was scared that she might fall if she let go.
‘You won’t fall!’ Starburst insisted, ‘Be brave!’
Cadence gritted her teeth and reached a trembling hoof towards him.
‘That’s it,’ said Starburst encouragingly, ‘fine filly,’
Her left foreleg was around his neck, with one last breath of courage, she let go of the cliff, closed her eyes, and grabbed onto Starburst. When she opened her eyes, Starburst was smiling at her, and holding her in his forelegs.
‘Well done,’ Starburst said.
‘Starburst flew back up and landed safely on the cliff top. Everypony was relieved and happy that Cadence was okay, well, except Thora, who was scowling slightly, and perhaps Lightning Dust. Cadence took one look at Shining Armor, and pressed her nose to his. Ignoring the giggling that followed, they rubbed noses. Starburst smiled.
‘Make sure you look after her,’ Starburst told Shining Armor.
*
‘We should have done this in the first place,’ Shining Armor said in a muffled voice, as he was dragging his sleeping bag from the tent, ‘I should’ve insisted.’
‘I just didn’t want anypony to work out how much she’d got to me,’ Cadence mumbled back, as she dragged her sleeping bag over to his, ‘I should’ve done what was best for me.’
They both got into their sleeping bags. They felt very tired. They looked up at the sky and could see that dawn was approaching. Cadence was just glad that she was still in one piece. She reached out a hoof towards Shining Armor who placed his hoof on hers. By the time the sun was up, they were both fast asleep.